The standard answer would be (plus what stats tell use about the veracity of the vaccine autism link),
Thiomersal's main use is as an antiseptic and antifungal agent, due to the oligodynamic effect. In multidose injectable drug delivery systems, it prevents serious adverse effects such as the Staphylococcus infection that, in one 1928 incident, killed 12 of 21 children vaccinated with a diphtheria vaccine that lacked a preservative.[12] Unlike other vaccine preservatives used at the time, thiomersal does not reduce the potency of the vaccines that it protects.
In vitro tests conducted by Lilly investigators H. M. Powell and W. A. Jamieson found that it was forty to fifty times as effective as phenol against Staphylococcus aureus.[11] It was used to kill bacteria and prevent contamination in antiseptic ointments, creams, jellies, and sprays used by consumers and in hospitals, including nasal sprays, eye drops, contact lens solutions, immunoglobulins, and vaccines. Thiomersal was used as a preservative (bactericide) so that multidose vials of vaccines could be used instead of single-dose vials, which are more expensive.
Following a review of mercury-containing food and drugs mandated in 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics asked vaccine manufacturers to remove thiomersal from vaccines as a purely precautionary measure, and it was rapidly phased out of most U.S. and European vaccines.[11][31] Many parents saw the action to remove thiomersal—in the setting of a perceived increasing rate of autism as well as increasing number of vaccines in the childhood vaccination schedule—as indicating that the preservative was the cause of autism.[11] The scientific consensus is that there is no evidence supporting these claims, and the rate of autism continues to climb despite elimination of thiomersal from routine childhood vaccines.[7][32][33][34]
In the United States, countries in the European Union, and a few other affluent countries, thiomersal is no longer used as a preservative in routine childhood vaccination schedules.[9] In the U.S., the only exceptions among vaccines routinely recommended for children are some formulations of the inactivated influenza vaccine for children older than two years.[14] Several vaccines that are not routinely recommended for young children do contain thiomersal, including DT (diphtheria and tetanus), Td (tetanus and diphtheria), and TT (tetanus toxoid); other vaccines may contain a trace of thiomersal from steps in manufacture.[12] The multi-dose versions of the influenza vaccines Fluvirin and Fluzone can contain up to 25 micrograms of mercury per dose from thiomersal.[15][16] Also, four rarely used treatments for pit viper, coral snake, and black widow venom still contain thiomersal.[17] Outside North America and Europe, many vaccines contain thiomersal; the World Health Organization has concluded that there is no evidence of toxicity from thiomersal in vaccines and no reason on safety grounds to change to more expensive single-dose administration. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal
As regards increased rates of autism, the decision to make autism a condition that a qualifies a family for money (SSDI), along with broader criteria for diagnosis and with increased focus and diagnoses of autism can help explain why rates have increased so much. Note that autism rates of states largely corresponds to the testing rate, while countries such as France and Germany, Norway and Belgium which are among the countries with the lowest autism rates are also among the countries with the highest vaccination rates along with the US.
• In 1943, Leo Kanner firstcoined the term ‘infantile autism’ to describe children who seemed socially isolated and withdrawn. In 1966, researchers estimated that about 1 in 2,500 children had autism, according to criteria derived from Kanner’s description.
• in 1991, the U.S. Department of Education ruled that a diagnosis of autism qualifies a child for special education services.
[Individuals with autism may be eligible to receive SSI to help support them financially. Social Security Disability Insurance is another financial benefit through Social Security... SSDI disabled adult “child” benefits continue as long as the individual remains disabled. Your child doesn’t need to have worked to get these benefits....Most states have a program for individuals with developmental disabilities called a Medicaid Waiver...In some states, children do not need to meet eligibility criteria for Medicaid in order to qualify for a waiver....ABLE Accounts..he ABLE Act authorized the establishment of private tax-advantaged savings accounts that can help you save for long-term expenses without sacrificing eligibility for public benefits such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).... - https://www.autismspeaks.org/financial-autism-support]
• In 1994, the fourth edition of the DSM broadened the definition of autism even further, by including Asperger syndrome on the milder end of the spectrum.
• . In 2006, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended screening all children for autism during routine pediatrician visits at 18 and 24 months of age.
• The latest estimate of autism prevalence—1 in 68—is up 30 percent from the 1 in 88 rate reported in 2008, and more than double the 1 in 150 rate in 2000. In fact, the trend has been steeply upward since the early 1990s, not only in the U.S. but globally. - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-real-reasons-autism-rates-are-up-in-the-u-s/
In 2000, the CDC established the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network to estimate prevalence of autism. It detailed its method in a 2016 study on autism prevalence. Every two years, these researchers scan a representative sample of the school records of 8-year-old children for signs of autism, then extrapolate that number to estimate the number in the general population.
Drastic variations in the numbers of autistic children among different states [from about 1.54% in Texas to 4.88% in Florida: see below]... A study from March 2005, conducted by David S. Mandell at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, established a positive correlation between state educational spending and diagnoses of ASD. Additionally, the study found that diagnoses of ASD increase with the availability of health-related resources, such as pediatricians and school health clinics.
In the 1960s, researchers estimated that 0.04% of European children, or roughly 1 in 2,500 children, had autism, according to HuffPost. Currently, 1.85% of all American children, or 1 in 54, are estimated to have autism, according to the CDC's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. A comparison of the 1966 estimate and the 2020 estimate shows the prevalence estimate increased 45-fold (or 4,525%) in that time period.
There is no objective measure for diagnosing ASD, unlike body weight and blood pressure. When applied in the 1966 study, Scientific American explains, the definition of autism had not yet made it into the widely used DSM. The definition relied on Leo Kanner's 1943 observations of "infantile autism," a term he coined to identify children who had previously been described as "as feeble-minded, retarded, moronic, idiotic or schizoid," Spectrum News writes. Therefore, most diagnosed cases were severe.
In the past two decades, the proportion of the child population the CDC has identified with ASD has increased 176%, from 6.7 cases per 1,000 in 2000 to 18.5 per 1,000 in 2016.
Finally, certain biological factors increase the chance that a child will develop autism. These include a child having older parents, in particular an older father, and a child being born prematurely.
studies by the CDC and the Institute of Medicine have found that children who receive vaccines do not have a higher chance of developing ASD. The CDC also states that studies of particular ingredients in vaccines have shown there is no correlation between ASD and vaccine ingredients. - Bayliss Wagner | USA TODAY; https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fact-check-autism-diagnosis-criteria-changes-have-led-to-increased-rates/ar-BB1fMOhW/
The estimated state-level prevalence of ever-diagnosed autism varies from about 1.54% in Texas to 4.88% in Florida. The states with the leading rates of autism are, Florida 4.0+; Maryland 4.0+; Rhode Island 4.0+; Washington D.C. 4.0+; Arizona 3.0-3.9, as with Connecticut; Delaware; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Maine; Massachusetts; States with low prevalence below 2% are Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, Tennessee, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Ohio Minnesota; Missouri; Montana; New Hampshire; New Jersey; Oregon; Utah ; Virginia; West Virginia. - https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/autism-rates-by-state
A summary of global vaccination coverage in 2020 follows.
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) causes meningitis and pneumonia. Hib vaccine had been introduced in 192 Member States by the end of 2020. Global coverage with 3 doses of Hib vaccine is estimated at 70%. There is great variation between regions. The WHO Region of South-East Asia is estimated to have 83% coverage, while it is only 25% in the WHO Western Pacific Region.
Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver. Hepatitis B vaccine for infants had been introduced nationwide in 190 Member States by the end of 2020. Global coverage with 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine is estimated at 83%. In addition, 113 Member States introduced one dose of hepatitis B vaccine to newborns within the first 24 hours of life. Global coverage is 42% and is as high as 84% in the WHO Western Pacific Region, while it is only estimated to be at 6% in the WHO African region
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract and can cause cervical cancer in women, other types of cancer, and genital warts in both men and women. The HPV vaccine was introduced in 111 Member States by the end of 2020. Since many large countries have not yet introduced the vaccine and vaccine coverage decreased in 2020 in many countries - global coverage with the final dose of HPV is now estimated at 13%. This is a proportionally large reduction from 15% in 2019.
Meningitis A is an infection that is often deadly and leaves one in five affected individuals with long-term devastating sequelae. Before the introduction of MenAfriVac in 2010 – a revolutionary vaccine– meningitis serogroup A accounted for 80–85% of meningitis epidemics in the African meningitis belt. By the end of 2020 almost 350 million people in 24 out of the 26 countries in the meningitis belt had been vaccinated with MenAfriVac through campaigns. 11 countries had included MenAfriVac in their routine immunization schedule by 2020.
Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, which usually results in a high fever and rash, and can lead to blindness, encephalitis or death. By the end of 2020, 84% of children had received one dose of measles-containing vaccine by their second birthday, and 179 Member States had included a second dose as part of routine immunization and 70% of children received two doses of measles vaccine according to national immunization schedules.
Mumps is a highly contagious virus that causes painful swelling at the side of the face under the ears (the parotid glands), fever, headache and muscle aches. It can lead to viral meningitis. Mumps vaccine had been introduced nationwide in 123 Member States by the end of 2020.
Pneumococcal diseases include pneumonia, meningitis and febrile bacteraemia, as well as otitis media, sinusitis and bronchitis. Pneumococcal vaccine had been introduced in 151 Member States by the end of 2020, including three in some parts of the country, and global third dose coverage was estimated at 49%.
Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that can cause irreversible paralysis. In 2020, 83% of infants around the world received three doses of polio vaccine. In 2020, the coverage of infants receiving their first dose of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in countries that are still using oral polio vaccine (OPV) is estimated at 80%. Targeted for global eradication, polio has been stopped in all countries except for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Until poliovirus transmission is interrupted in these countries, all countries remain at risk of importation of polio, especially vulnerable countries with weak public health and immunization services and travel or trade links to endemic countries.
Rotaviruses are the most common cause of severe diarrhoeal disease in young children throughout the world. Rotavirus vaccine was introduced in 114 countries by the end of 2020, including three in some parts of the country. Global coverage was estimated at 46%.
Rubella is a viral disease which is usually mild in children, but infection during early pregnancy may cause fetal death or congenital rubella syndrome, which can lead to defects of the brain, heart, eyes, and ears. Rubella vaccine was introduced nationwide in 173 Member States by the end of 2020, and global coverage was estimated at 70%.
Tetanus is caused by a bacterium which grows in the absence of oxygen, for example in dirty wounds or the umbilical cord if it is not kept clean. The spores of C. tetani are present in the environment irrespective of geographical location. It produces a toxin which can cause serious complications or death. Maternal and neonatal tetanus persist as public health problems in 12 countries, mainly in Africa and Asia.Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. As of 2019, yellow fever vaccine had been introduced in routine infant immunization programmes in 36 of the 40 countries and territories at risk for yellow fever in Africa and the Americas. In these 40 countries and territories, coverage is estimated at 45%. - https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/immunization-coverage
The World Health Organization’s full immunization coverage rate estimates can be found here.
Here are the 10 countries with the highest rates of vaccination:
The ten countries with the lowest autism rates are;
Here are the 10 countries with the highest autism rates:
Here are the 10 countries with the highest rates of vaccination:
Now for an example of how stats can be misleading, there is this use:
The big picture: India has the largest number of autistic children (851,000), followed by China (422,000), Nigeria (207,000), Pakistan (172,000) and Indonesia (159,000). Vaccination rates are often low in these regions, further refuting already debunked claims about a link between vaccines and autism. In contrast, about 150,000 kids with autism live in North America and fewer than 140,000 in Western Europe.. - Peter Hotez is a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, and the author of “Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism.”
Regardless of the authors argument, which I am not disputing, the total numbers here simply do not mean anything in this regard unless they are linked to the percentage of autistic children relative to the total pop. of such. And by the metric of total number China has the highest number of autistic children (though any stats from Communist are suspect) since their total population is much higher. However, as a percentage, China's autism rate is about the same as that of Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, being in lower pack. But it has a reported highest rate of vaccination.