A report last week stated that, according to the US Health and Human Services Department, advocates of the idea that vaccines are linked to autism will join neurologists and other health professionals as members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, a new panel that will recommend areas for autism research.

If the vaccines-autism link has been repeatedly proven to be wrong, and even the Institute of Medicine, an independent organ that advises the US government on health issues, has urged scientists to look elsewhere for the causes of autism, what’s the point of including supporters of such a link, other than to appease the advocacy groups?

I hope I’m wrong, but being inclusive for the sake of political correctness doesn’t strike me as the right way to tackle a problem as serious as autism.