Respectful Insolence  Blogging on Peer-Reviewed ResearchA little
more than three months ago there came to pass a very bad day for
antivaccinationists.  On that day, in the prestigious New
England Journal of Medicine appeared a study that was powerful
evidence that vaccines are not associated with adverse
neuropsychiatric outcomes in children. Not surprisingly, the
usual suspects in the mercury militia went on the attack
immediately, not wanting to believe that yet another strong
piece of evidence was attacking their hallowed belief that
mercury in the thimerosal preservative previously used in
vaccines is a major cause or contributer to the development of
autism.  Yesterday was another very bad day for
antivaccinationists, a very, very bad day indeed. Three months
ago, the study released that supported the safety of vaccines
did not directly deal with autism and autism spectrum disorders.
Yesterday, however, a study was released in the Archives of
General Psychiatry that did study the question of whether vacc