Flu ShotBy a vote of 5 to 2, with two abstentions, the advisory panel, the New Jersey Public Health Council, recommended approval of the flu shot requirement, as well as requiring three other new vaccines for school children. The other immunizations are a vaccine against pneumonia for preschoolers and two vaccines for middle school students, one against a fast-killing strain of meningitis and the other a booster for the immunization against tetanus, pertussis and diphtheria, which is already routinely given in first grade.....

But not all the family and community members who attended the meeting agreed.Some parents of autistic children have argued that the vaccines already required of school-age children may be linked to autism, although many experts say that no solid evidence supports this view. A recent federal study showed that New Jersey leads the nation in its rate of autism, a neurodevelopmental condition the cause of which is still a mystery.
Some advocates and parents have suspected a link between vaccines and autism because thimerosal, a mercury-containing organic compound, has been used as a preservative in some vaccines.

Link to NY Times article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/nyregion/11vaccine.html?_r=1&ref=healt...