A study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics offers more support to the safety of childhood vaccines.
The study looked at 1,403 children who received varying amounts of thimerosal — a mercury compound once used in vaccines — in vaccinations they were given as children. Now, 10 years later, Italian researchers conducted a battery of neurological tests on the children covering skills such as memory, executive functioning, language and motor skills, among others.
In 24 different outcomes that the study authors evaluated, only two were associated with thimerosal exposure, but they note, “the few associations found between thimerosal exposure and neuropsychological development might be attributable to chance.”
“Put together with the evidence of all the other studies, this tells us there is no reason to worry about the effect of thimerosal in vaccines,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Alberto Tozz, told the Associated Press.
Some people believe that vaccines containing thimerosal cause autism. However, that theory has repeatedly been disproved in scientific studies.
