The Vaccine Controversy: The History, Use, and Safety of Vaccinations

This book takes a survey-like look at the state of vaccines at the beginning of the 21st century, with each chapter focusing on one disease and the vaccines available for it. Each chapter is short, from 3 - 10 pages in length, and covers the history and science of that illness, and the history and science of the vaccines for it. The history portions of each chapter includes the source of the illness, its affect on human history, how it spreads, its symptoms, and biology. The vaccine portion includes a famous trials, and the names of the individuals, scientists and patients involved in making the vaccine(s). Most of the major infectious diseases are covered, such as polio, smallpox, chickenpox, and whooping cough. There are few exclusions, these primarily being the more recent ones, like the vaccine against cervical cancer. Another nice feature of the book are the appendices, which cover the legal aspects of vaccine usage, and how vaccines are tested in clinical trials. Overall, the book is quite complete, and quite readable for anyone with some science background. The only thing missing is a comprehensive timeline of events.

Dr. Link gives an overview of the history of vaccination and immunization, and ethical issues raised by this. He also has a chapter devoted to known vaccine failures and worse; the best known was the Bundaberg disaster in Australia in the 1920s, involving a batch of bacteria-contaminated vaccine. There were also examples of polio vaccine that gave people polio, and hepatitis spread by smallpox vaccination. He describes the diseases they prevent and what they did to people, since most of us have never known anyone who had some of them, and why people should or should not take the vaccine. He also debunks the vaccines-cause-autism thing, but does admit that the P component of the DPT vaccine does cause neurological damage in a small percentage of people who take it. This is well known in medical circles. There was considerable skepticism raised about the chicken pox vaccine; he saw no indication in giving it to healthy children, and I have to agree. There are also chapters about anthrax and smallpox vaccination and the problems that have arisen from them. The back of the book has the suggested vaccine schedule; he also gives provisions for spreading them out should the parents wish to do so. Some people may not agree with what he says, but he's old enough to have encountered many of the diseases nobody gets nowadays and that is his only agenda.