On Monday I criticized Senator John McCain for giving credence to claims that vaccines are linked to the rise in autism diagnoses. Some believers in such a link point to the case of Hannah Polling, recently settled by the federal government, as evidence in support of their claims. Specifically, the government agreed that Polling’s parents were entitled to compensation from the federcal vaccine injury compensation fund because vaccines “aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder.” Today’s NYT reports on the case:
Advocates say the settlement