Antivaxxers are crazy. That is the perception we all gain from the media, the internet, celebrities, and beyond, writes Bernice Hausman in Anti/Vax, but we need to open our eyes and ears so that we can all have a better conversation about vaccine skepticism and its implications. Hausman argues that the heated debate about vaccinations and whether to get them or not is most often fueled by accusations and vilifications rather than careful attention to the real concerns of many Americans. She wants to set the record straight about vaccine skepticism and show how the issues and ideas that motivate it—like suspicion of pharmaceutical companies or the belief that some illness is necessary to good health—are commonplace in our society. Through Anti/Vax, Hausman wants to engage public health officials, the media, and each of us in a public dialogue about the relation of individual bodily autonomy to the state's responsibility to safeguard citizens' health. We need to know more about the position of each side in this important stand-off so that public decisions are made through understanding rather than stereotyped perceptions of scientifically illiterate antivaxxers or faceless bureaucrats. Hausman reveals that vaccine skepticism is, in part, a critique of medicalization and a warning about the dangers of modern medicine rather than a glib and gullible reaction to scaremongering and misunderstanding.

Vaccinophobia and Vaccine Controversies of the 21st Century Archana Chatterjee, editor Once hailed as a medical miracle, vaccination has come under attack from multiple fronts, including occasionally from within medicine. And while the rates of adverse reactions remain low, suggestions that vaccines can cause serious illness (and even death) are inspiring parents to refuse routine immunizations for their children--ironically, exposing them and others to potentially serious illness. Vaccinophobia and Vaccine Controversies of the 21st Century explains clearly how this state of affairs came into being, why it persists, and how healthcare professionals can best respond. Current findings review answers to bedrock questions about known adverse events, what vaccine additives are used for, and real and perceived risks involved in immunization. Perspectives representing pediatricians, family practitioners, nurses, parents, pharmacy professionals, the CDC, and the public health community help the reader sort out legitimate from irrational concerns. In-depth analyses discuss the possibility of links with asthma, cancer, Guillain-Barre syndrome, SIDS, and, of course, autism. Included in the coverage: Communicating vaccine risks and benefits The vaccine misinformation landscape in family medicine Perceived risks from live viral vaccines The media's role in vaccine misinformation Autoimmunity, allergies, asthma, and a relationship to vaccines Vaccines and autism: the controversy that won't go away The conundrums described here are pertinent to practitioners in pediatrics, family medicine, primary care, and nursing to help families with informed decision making. In addition, Vaccinophobia and Vaccine Controversies of the 21st Century should be read by trainees and researchers in child development and maternal and child health as the book's issues will have an impact on future generations of children and their families.

"A timely, fair-minded and crisply written account."—New York Times Book Review Vaccine juxtaposes the stories of brilliant scientists with the industry's struggle to produce safe, effective, and profitable vaccines. It focuses on the role of military and medical authority in the introduction of vaccines and looks at why some parents have resisted this authority. Political and social intrigue have often accompanied vaccination—from the divisive introduction of smallpox inoculation in colonial Boston to the 9,000 lawsuits recently filed by parents convinced that vaccines caused their children's autism. With narrative grace and investigative journalism, Arthur Allen reveals a history illuminated by hope and shrouded by controversy, and he sheds new light on changing notions of health, risk, and the common good.

Why is there such an active and ongoing resistance to mandatory vaccination? This book examines why vaccination as a public health measure continues to be highly controversial. Objections to mandatory vaccination are widespread in the world today. Rather than being a new development, such objections have existed since vaccinations were first introduced. This book provides complete coverage of the history and background of vaccination issues in the United States and around the world, along with a detailed examination of the issues related to the use of vaccination today, and supplies readers with the necessary information to consider if the potential benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks. Vaccination Controversies: A Reference Handbook overviews the scientific basis for and history of immunization as a method for protecting individuals against disease, along with a review of the social, political, and economic issues related to the use of immunization in both human and animal populations. The book debunks prevalent public health myths by clearly outlining the scientific consensus behind modern immunization regimes. Also included are profiles of important individuals and organizations within the history of vaccination, a chronology of important events, as well as pertinent reports, laws, and court decisions that give the reader a greater appreciation of the issues surrounding vaccination.

Stanley Williamson’s meticulously researched history of the British government’s smallpox vaccination program begins with Edward Jenner’s development of the vaccine at the end of the eighteenth century, charts the astonishing speed at which it became compulsory for children, and documents the decades of resistance that resulted in its repeal in 1946. Along the way Williamson examines the social, political, and ethical motivations of both factions. The power to make medical choices, including those regarding vaccination, remains a hotly contested issue today, making The Vaccination Controversy a timely contribution to our knowledge of medical history.

This eighth and final report of the Immunization Safety Review Committee examines the hypothesis that vaccines, specifically the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and thimerosal-containing vaccines, are causally associated with autism. The committee reviewed the extant published and unpublished epidemiological studies regarding causality and studies of potential biologic mechanisms by which these immunizations might cause autism. Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism finds that the body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. The book further finds that potential biological mechanisms for vaccine-induced autism that have been generated to date are only theoretical. It recommends a public health response that fully supports an array of vaccine safety activities and recommends that available funding for autism research be channeled to the most promising areas. The book makes additional recommendations regarding surveillance and epidemiological research, clinical studies, and communication related to these vaccine safety concerns.

As the world pins its hope for the end of the coronavirus pandemic to the successful rollout of vaccines, this book offers a vital long view of such efforts—and our resistance to them. At a time when vaccines are a vital tool in the fight against COVID-19 in all its various mutations, this hard-hitting book takes a longer historical perspective. It argues that globalization and cuts to healthcare have been eroding faith in the institutions producing and providing vaccines for more than thirty years. It tells the history of immunization from the work of early pioneers such as Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch through the eradication of smallpox in 1980, to the recent introduction of new kinds of genetically engineered vaccines. Immunization exposes the limits of public health authorities while suggesting how they can restore our confidence. Public health experts and all those considering vaccinations should read this timely history.

A thoughtful evaluation of the vaccine debate, its history, and its consequences. Since 1990, the number of mandated vaccines has increased dramatically. Today, a fully vaccinated child will have received nearly three dozen vaccinations between birth and age six. Along with the increase in number has come a growing wave of concern among parents about the unintended side effects of vaccines. In Vaccine, Mark A. Largent explains the history of the debate and identifies issues that parents, pediatricians, politicians, and public health officials must address. Nearly 40% of American parents report that they delay or refuse a recommended vaccine for their children. Despite assurances from every mainstream scientific and medical institution, parents continue to be haunted by the question of whether vaccines cause autism. In response, health officials herald vaccines as both safe and vital to the public's health and put programs and regulations in place to encourage parents to follow the recommended vaccine schedule. For Largent, the vaccine-autism debate obscures a constellation of concerns held by many parents, including anxiety about the number of vaccines required (including some for diseases that children are unlikely ever to encounter), unhappiness about the rigorous schedule of vaccines during well-baby visits, and fear of potential side effects, some of them serious and even life-threatening. This book disentangles competing claims, opens the controversy for critical reflection, and provides recommendations for moving forward.

A London researcher was the first to assert that the combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine known as MMR caused autism in children. Following this "discovery," a handful of parents declared that a mercury-containing preservative in several vaccines was responsible for the disease. If mercury caused autism, they reasoned, eliminating it from a child's system should treat the disorder. Consequently, a number of untested alternative therapies arose, and, most tragically, in one such treatment, a doctor injected a five-year-old autistic boy with a chemical in an effort to cleanse him of mercury, which stopped his heart instead. Children with autism have been placed on stringent diets, subjected to high-temperature saunas, bathed in magnetic clay, asked to swallow digestive enzymes and activated charcoal, and injected with various combinations of vitamins, minerals, and acids. Instead of helping, these therapies can hurt those who are most vulnerable, and particularly in the case of autism, they undermine childhood vaccination programs that have saved millions of lives. An overwhelming body of scientific evidence clearly shows that childhood vaccines are safe and does not cause autism. Yet widespread fear of vaccines on the part of parents persists. In this book, Paul A. Offit, a national expert on vaccines, challenges the modern-day false prophets who have so egregiously misled the public and exposes the opportunism of the lawyers, journalists, celebrities, and politicians who support them. Offit recounts the history of autism research and the exploitation of this tragic condition by advocates and zealots. He considers the manipulation of science in the popular media and the courtroom, and he explores why society is susceptible to the bad science and risky therapies put forward by many antivaccination activists.

In light of the discovery of Autoimmune Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants, or ASIA, Vaccines and Autoimmunity explores the role of adjuvants – specifically aluminum in different vaccines – and how they can induce diverse autoimmune clinical manifestations in genetically prone individuals. Vaccines and Autoimmunity is divided into three sections; the first contextualizes the role of adjuvants in the framework of autoimmunity, covering the mechanism of action of adjuvants, experimental models of adjuvant induced autoimmune diseases, infections as adjuvants, the Gulf War Syndrome, sick-building syndrome (SBS), safe vaccines, toll-like receptors, TLRS in vaccines, pesticides as adjuvants, oil as adjuvant, mercury, aluminum and autoimmunity. The following section reviews literature on vaccines that have induced autoimmune conditions such as MMR and HBV, among others. The final section covers diseases in which vaccines were known to be the solicitor – for instance, systemic lupus erythematosus – and whether it can be induced by vaccines for MMR, HBV, HCV, and others. Edited by leaders in the field, Vaccines and Autoimmunity is an invaluable resource for advanced students and researchers working in pathogenic and epidemiological studies.