I'm pretty sure that's the study. I think the name was Dr. Andrew Wakefield as to the author. The paper it was published in, the Lancet, ended up retracting the study because a bunch of people trying to recreate the study got way different results. As far as MMR vaccine goes, that component that contains Mercury, Thimerosol, has never actually been part of that vaccine. The only vaccine that has Thimerosol is the flu vaccine, and they do offer versions of that vaccine without it. Thimerosol itself, from what the CDC says " contains ethylmercury, which is cleared from the human body more quickly than methylmercury, and is therefore less likely to cause any harm." The ethylmercury doesn't stay in the body the way methylmercury (found in fish) does, and is eliminated completely from the body fairly quickly. Also, the Mercury containing compontent Thimerosol was removed from all childhood vaccines back in 2001, and for adults it's only used in multi-dose vials to prevent the growth of bacteria. There are 3 in which it is used during the manufacturing process, but it is later removed, and one is DTaP, or the one that prevents diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.

Here's some reading for more info if you're curious: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/patient-ed/conversations/downloads/vacsafe-thimerosal-color-office.pdf https://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228 http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/cc-thim.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16818529?dopt=Abstract http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa071434 http://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vaccine-ingredients http://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-ingredients/thimerosal

Here is a refutation of the original study, and the original study only had a sample size of 12 children. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136032/ "The Lancet completely retracted the Wakefield et al.[1] paper in February 2010, admitting that several elements in the paper were incorrect, contrary to the findings of the earlier investigation.[7] Wakefield et al.[1] were held guilty of ethical violations (they had conducted invasive investigations on the children without obtaining the necessary ethical clearances) and scientific misrepresentation (they reported that their sampling was consecutive when, in fact, it was selective). This retraction was published as a small, anonymous paragraph in the journal, on behalf of the editors.[8]" "Wakefield et al.[1] were guilty of deliberate fraud (they picked and chose data that suited their case; they falsified facts).[9] The British Medical Journal has published a series of articles on the exposure of the fraud, which appears to have taken place for financial gain.[10–13] It is a matter of concern that the exposé was a result of journalistic investigation, rather than academic vigilance followed by the institution of corrective measures. Readers may be interested to learn that the journalist on the Wakefield case, Brian Deer, had earlier reported on the false implication of thiomersal (in vaccines) in the etiology of autism.[14] However, Deer had not played an investigative role in that report.[14] The systematic failures which permitted the Wakefield fraud were discussed by Opel et al.[15]"

Basically, most of the original childhood vaccines in question didn't even contain mercury, in any form, in the first place, and original study only used 12 kids as their sample size. The many studies conducted afterward refuted the findings and it was later found out the dude and his colleagues basically got paid to put that shit out. That first red flag being that the MMR vaccine never had mercury in it in the first place.

That being said, I would prefer a kid with autism over having my kid die of fucking whooping cough or tetanus. That's a very painful way to die. These diseases spread easily and there have been a few outbreaks in the past few years, especially for, you guessed it, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, all in anti-vax hotspots. One poor woman waited until all 7 of her kids caught whooping cough to start vaccinating, and she thought they may have given it to her 5 month old niece who is too young to be vaccinated. . ( https://www.thescientificparent.org/learning-the-hard-way-my-journey-from-antivaxx-to-science/) ) Oops. Even if vaccines did cause autism, I would rather take my chances than have the disease spread to pandemic levels and kill between 20 and 50 million people worldwide like the flu did in 1918. Thanks to vaccines, the last confirmed case of smallpox was in 1977 in a small village in Somalia. If we have more autistic people in return for not having smallpox anymore, that's a pretty small price to pay considering the large historical impact of smallpox.