Even though one of the most prominent studies that raised the issue of vaccine safety—Andrew Wakefield's link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism—has been thoroughly discredited, the fear of vaccines has proven remarkably malleable. In addition to MMR, fears focused on a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal. Both of those have been cleared by subsequent research, but that hasn't stopped people from questioning vaccine safety. Instead, a pattern emerged: some people doubted the exculpatory research, as others continued to blame the same cause (vaccines) while casting about for a new mechanism.
One of the more recent targets of the latter group has been the recommended vaccine schedule, which calls for a significant number of injections within the first year of age. A number of people have argued that this schedule causes a response that ultimately produces neurological damage. This idea has now taken a hit from a study published in the journal Pediatrics. The study found little correlation between vaccination schedules and performance on a battery of tests of mental performance that were administered seven years later—the few associations that did turn up indicated that the prevailing vaccination schedule actually improves mental performance.
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