My son recently had his three-year check-up. And, as usual, the doctor asked whether I wanted to give him a flu shot. I had fully expected to do so, until I asked whether the flu shot contained the ingredient thimerosal, a form of mercury used in small amounts as a preservative in many flu vaccines.

It did, so I turned down the shot. And now I’m feeling guilty about it as I search for other places where I can give my son a thimerosol-free flu shot, which he had received the past two years with other doctors.

Aside from typical jitters of injecting mercury into my son’s veins, there’s the larger concern that has been raised in recent years: Some researchers and patient advocacy groups have charged there is a possible link between thimerosal and autism. As a precaution, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public Health Service in the late 1990s agreed that vaccines given to children should be thimerosal-free (or have only traces of it).

The only exception? The flu vaccine.

Some say the possible benefits of getting a flu shot (even one with thimerosal) outweighs the possible negatives. But I’m not so sure.

Just because the ingredient hasn’t been deemed “unsafe” is not reason enough for me to expose my son to it. It reminds me of the recent controversy over cold and cough medicine for young children: The medicine hasn’t been labeled “unsafe,” but that didn’t stop drug makers from pulling certain brands from store shelves until further study.

So tell me: Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

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