NJ First State to Mandate Flu Shots for Preschoolers

[lesliepear]

http://www.wnbc.com/health/14814059/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

I do it for Alan anyway, but hopefully there won't be a shortage as there was a few years ago.

Comments

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

If the anti-vaccination people had a hint of science backing their objections, I might give them some credit. But the usual objection is autism, blamed on the mercury-based preservative present in vaccines that are distributed in some multi-dose containers (but absent others, and always absent in single-dose containers). That just doesn't make any sense.

If we attribute the rise in autism to exposure to the mercury-based preservative, why have diagnoses continued to rise, even after the same chemical has disappeared from common use as an antiseptic, and declined as a preservative? (I used the antiseptic under the brand name "Mercurochrome" a lot as a kid. It was nice because he toughened the skin as it healed, and didn't sting when applied.) Exposure in that form was vastly more common than exposure as a vaccine preservative.

Isn't it a lot more likely that diagnoses of autism have increased because children previously labeled as "retarded" or otherwise not "normal" are now diagnosed as autistic?

(This isn't directed at you, obviously.)