It’s better late than never, might be what vaccine manufacturers are thinking right now.

The pharmaceutical industry had maintained all along that there’s no proven link between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and autism. CBS had been unwilling to concede that notion until last night.

“In health news tonight, new research finds no link between mercury in vaccines and autism in children,” Katie Couric said on the January 7 “Evening News.” “Suspicion had focused on a vaccine preservative called according to a press release [1], got little fanfare. It got only a brief mention on “CBS Evening News,” despite CBS airing six stories over the past two-and-a-half years that sounded alarm bells over thimerosal, according to a Nexis search.

One CBS story, aired on July 15, 2005, included the ranting and ravings of environmental extremist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr [2]. “The science connecting brain damage with thimerosal is absolutely overwhelming,” Kennedy said.