The people in the study met the criteria for being in a vegetative state yet were able to communicate via the MRI. I don't see any reason to deny that they are in a vegetative state. We only need to think that we can now communicate with some people in a vegetative states and that vegetative states are not incompatible with some forms of consciousness.
For all we know, we might invent some process in the future for actually communicating with vegetables.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13