Lisa Vegan’s Reviews > 99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them > Status Update

Uh-oh. I hate it when I find mistakes in medical books, even if they’re books written for laypeople to read for fun. Early on in the book (page 20 in my Libby e-book) in the TB chapter she states that there is a 91% risk reduction of contracting COVID-19 when fully vaccinated against it. This book was not written in 2021 when we thought the vaccines were more effective. In the book he refers to 2024 events. The COVID-19 vaccine does not do a good job at preventing infection; it helps make infections less severe. It helps prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death. There is some protection from being infected but that effectiveness is nowhere near 91% and even the small risk reduction of infection is for a limited amount of time, usually a few weeks to a very few months only. Very few people are getting vaccinated more often than every 6 months to 1 year; the protection doesn’t last that long. This misinformation bothers me. Otherwise it’s a fun book so far and I have learned things, including a better explanation of why I was tested for TB before I was given immunosuppressive drugs. By the way, I was grateful to have been off them for 3-1/2 years before this COVID-19 pandemic began. I hope that this vaccine misinformation doesn’t dampen my enjoyment of the rest of the book because I’m finding it delightful and educational.

Does the author cite sources?

Julie wrote: "Does the author cite sources?"

Julie, Not always and not for this, no!!

Now she's mentioned something that happened in 2025 so this is a fairly new book. The stats she gives for covid vaccine efficacy are just wrong.

ETA: NO, not usually. It's not the kind of book that demands it and most of the information doesn't need it either, so far. I'm not that far into the book. With this kind of 91% stat though there should be sources. I'm reading an e-book. When I can free up my pad I'll check the Table of Contents to see if there are sources at the end but I don't think there are.