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By Sandy Kleffman

Knight Ridder Newspapers

It's a sight all too familiar to parents.

The jab. Then the tiny face scrunches up. Tears trickle down the cheeks. The bawling begins.

For decades, parents have eagerly heeded their doctor's advice and taken their children for immunizations, confident that any momentary discomfort would be offset by important health benefits.

No one disputes that vaccinations are one of the marvels of modern medicine.

Vaccines have saved the lives of millions of children worldwide, wiped out smallpox and polio, and made deadly diseases such as diphtheria and measles rare.

Yet today, a chorus of doubt has arisen from parents of autistic children who suspect that vaccines also triggered their child's disorder.

Most medical experts reject this idea. They note that several recent studies found no evidence of a link between vaccinations and autism.

These experts worry that parents will stop immunizing their children, leading to a flare-up of deadly diseases because of unproven accusations.

Yet the issue refuses to die.

The controversy has led to plummeting vaccination rates in England, a class-action lawsuit in California and 10 other states, and multimillion-dollar, government-financed studies to address lingering questions.

The allegations come at a time when children receive more vaccinations than ever before.

A typical child today will get 24 doses of 12 vaccines by the age of 6, a dramatic increase from two decades ago.

A 2-month-old may get five shots during one visit to the doctor's office.

Critics wonder whether this is more than these little bodies can handle.

Much of the controversy centers around thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury that's been found in several vaccines until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked manufacturers in 1999 to voluntarily phase it out.

The action came after FDA scientists concluded that children who receive the entire recommended series of immunizations may ingest more mercury during their first six months than is considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Today, all vaccines on the recommended schedule for American children age 6 and younger are manufactured thimerosal-free.

Yet…