Paul A. Offit, M.D., and Charlotte A. Moser, leading advocates for modern vaccines, answer parents' numerous questions about the underlying science of modern vaccines and the value of childhood immunization, while forthrightly addressing parents' concerns about vaccine safety. In straightforward prose, the authors explain how vaccines work, how they are made, what goes into their making, as well as vaccines' real risks, balanced against the danger of childhood infectious diseases and the threat of diseases that have reemerged due to declining childhood vaccination rates.Offit and Moser address parental fears that children may receive too many vaccines too early. They consider the evidence that the HPV vaccine may cause chronic fatigue or other dangerous side effects, and they lay to rest any worries that additives and preservatives in vaccines cause autism. The authors warn against complacency and a false sense of security or the notion that a disease is too remote to do a child serious harm. There couldn't be a better moment& mdash;or a more pressing need& mdash;for a book that offers honesty, not hype, about protecting children's health.
Paul A. Offit, MD is the Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Offit is also the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is a recipient of many awards including the J. Edmund Bradley Prize for Excellence in Pediatrics bestowed by the University of Maryland Medical School, the Young Investigator Award in Vaccine Development from the Infectious Disease Society of America, and a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Paul A. Offit has published more than 130 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recently recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC; for this achievement Dr. Offit received the Gold Medal from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Jonas Salk Medal from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Dr Paul Offit was also a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is the author of multiple books.
I read this one alongside the infamous Dr. Sears book to help me make some vaccination decisions after one of our kids was diagnosed with an allergy to two common vaccine ingredients. The chapters are well-written and coincide nicely with the way Dr. Sears presents his information, making it easy to compare the two perspectives. I particularly enjoyed learning more about the development of each vaccine, including WHY those questionable ingredients are present and why they aren't so easy to "just take out." He also dabbled a bit in explaining the why behind the CDC recommended vaccine schedule and why it matters if you deviate from it (something I'll admit I hadn't given too much to before). I do wish he'd gone further into this topic since understanding why rather than hearing "just trust us" is key for me.
The downside for me was his occasional personal stories from families whose children had been affected by vaccine-preventable diseases. This felt like emotional manipulation and fear-mongering in a book where I was really hoping for straight facts. It's so unhelpful for parents trying to make wise decisions when both sides are engaged in using scare tactics to try to win you over.
Hate to be the voice of dissent, but I just did not care for this book much. I was really hoping for some facts and figures to help me make decisions about vaccinating my child, but instead, I got vague reassurances with out-of-context numbers. I really felt like the author was "talking down" to the reader and making assumptions that I couldn't think for myself. It was not all bad, though. The section about the different vaccines had some interesting information. I would not, however, recommend the book.
Protect your children from Big Pharma...they do not have your best interest in mind! Suggestion: Read the one-star reviews to discover the truth about this author and his books...vaccines are a very lucrative business!
Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Billionaires, and slimy politicians...good luck to humanity.
Goodreads: books by Dr. Vernon Coleman Robert F. Kennedy's website: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/ Hmmm...What happened to Dr. Andrew Moulden and his book Every Vaccine Produces Harm?
Look to Christ and the Saints as most humans will surely disappoint.
This book was not bad and did give a decent shake to parents who have vaccine curiosities and concerns. Unfortunately, it had a problem with double standards and emotional manipulation. Numerous stories were presented in the book from parents who had children who died from preventable diseases, often with emotionally charged language "tragic", "devastating", "couldn't forgive myself", etc. I don't particularly have a problem with this, except that parents of children who had vaccine reactions were almost entirely brushed off as "unfortunate" and not allowed to speak in their own words. The loss of a child is always tragic.
Concerningly, this also extended to statistics. 4 children dying of hib was presented as a tragic health crisis. 100 people dying of lightning strikes is considered inevitable.
The author also really comes from a one size fits all, mandate centric model, wherein health experts know best for everyone. I personally vehemently disagree with this approach and find it off putting. Experts, unfortunately, tend to zero in on their area of expertise to the damage of all else, frequently without the guidance of common sense. Experts also tend to look at the benefit of society, rather than the individual-which is their job. However, it's our job as individuals to take responsibility for our own health. Sometimes these ideals clash. The author fails to acknowledge this and always lands on the experts' side.
The author did a nice, level headed job over ethical concerns over fetal tissue use in vaccine manufacturing, which I appreciated.
The book is open about historical vaccine problems and does a nice job detailing how we have improved our surveillance and outcomes- an important thing to recognize. However, it fails to acknowledge concerns that similar blunders could happen again. Even if we don't like risks inherent in our own position, we should acknowledge them.
Unfortunately, this book just lacked the statistical chops and used too much emotionally manipulative language for me, especially with its strong appeal to expertise, rather than addressing concerns. It is a helpful foil to the more scaremongering anti Vax books out there. But for people who have specific concerns about specific vaccines (such as hepatitis b in preemies), it really doesn't have terribly much to offer other than, "this is safe because we said so".