A Georgia family cannot pursue claims that a vaccine made their son autistic, the state Supreme Court ruled after the federal justices vacated its opinion earlier this year. Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari had sued American Home Products over a booster shot containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. They claimed the medication had caused their son, Stefano, to develop autism. The trial court granted partial summary judgment to the drugmaker, which does business as Wyeth, SmithKline Beecham, GlaxoSmithKline and GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, but the state appeals division reversed.
