This history of vaccines in the US recounts the origins and development of vaccinations, from smallpox eradication to controversies over the causes of autism. Allen traces the evolution of vaccines for diseases such as polio and measles, public acceptance and later dissent by parents who claimed they caused their children's autism, and the related safety movement. He only deals with preventative vaccines and not therapeutic ones. Allen is a writer for Slate and was former Associated Press foreign correspondent. Annotation #169;2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Vaccines are one of the most important and controversial achievements in public health. Washington-based journalist Allen explores in depth this dark horse of medicine from the first instances of doctors saving patients from smallpox by infecting them with it to the current controversy over vaccinating preteen girls against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. One thing becomes very clear: fear of vaccination is not a recent problem. In colonial America, inoculations against smallpox were seen by many as a means of deflecting the will of God. In the 20th century, the triumphs of the Salk polio vaccine and the eradication of smallpox may actually have led to current antivaccination movements: "as infectious diseases disappeared, in part thanks to vaccines, the risks of vaccination itself were thrown into relief." Allen's comprehensive, often unexpected and intelligently told history illuminates the complexity of a public health policy that may put the individual at risk but will save the community. This book leaves the reader with a sense of awe at all that vaccination has accomplished and trepidation over the future of the vaccine industry. 16 pages of illus. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Vaccines fighting this season's flu strain, cervical cancer, shingles, and childhood inner-ear infections have hit the news, while medical researchers, funded by Gates Foundation dollars, labor feverishly to develop vaccines against the Third World curses of tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS. The undeniable history of disease prevention via vaccine, however, masks thousands of individual and familial tragedies, the unintended consequences of contaminated vaccines or catastrophic immune reactions. While most parents view routine inoculations as a sacred responsibility, others see a herd of Trojan horses that threaten a beloved child. Noted Washington-based journalist Allen has explored these issues in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic Monthly. Here, he authoritatively and objectively records the miracles, controversies, and tragedies that have accompanied the development of vaccines since Edward Jenner first combated smallpox in the 18th century. A separate chapter explores the alleged relationship between thimerosal, a vaccine preservative, and autism. This compelling narrative of the vaccine's undoubted triumphs and troubling challenges is highly recommended to serious readers interested in medicine and public health. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/06.] Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Pulling together years of accumulated research on a topic he has written about for several national publications, Allen recounts the 200-year history of vaccination, from its first employment to combat smallpox, the first and only contagious disease ever eradicated by a vaccine, to the present, in which decades of unanswered questions plus low profit margins for vaccine development threaten its future. Allen undertakes a ponderous mission indeed because there has been so much controversy, most recently regarding an alleged link between autism and a vaccine, and disagreement over the efficacy of various vaccines. A 2005 study found little difference in fatality rates between elderly flu shot recipients and those who didn't get the shots, and then there's the whole discussion about how much social responsibility the individual must bear when getting a vaccination that puts the recipient at risk of unwanted side effects but also helps protect the community from an epidemic. Thorny issues all, which Allen deftly maneuvers as he wrangles myriad aspects of a very complicated issue into a comprehensible text. DonnaChavez. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

At a time when antivaccinationists have created a public health policy issue based on a concern that mercury in childhood inoculations is causing autism, Allen (former Associated Press foreign correspondent) has written an evenhanded history of preventive medicine through vaccination covering the past 200 years. Beginning with Edward Jenner and smallpox in the 1790s, Vaccine covers polio, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, and the autism/mercury controversy. Allen fully documents that each epidemic disease vaccine has had inherent side effects and vocal opponents. The net result, however, is improvement of a country's health and life expectancy. The audience for this volume is the lay public; the writing, nontechnical. Although heavily footnoted, the book lacks a bibliography. No epidemiological charts are included to demonstrate a vaccine's impact over time or place. Summing Up: Recommended. Academic libraries supporting lower-/upper-level undergraduates; general readers. General Readers; Lower-division Undergraduates; Upper-division Undergraduates. Reviewed by R. D. Arcari. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Introduction: Vaccination and Politics	11
Part 1 Origins
1 Experimenting on the Neighbors with Cotton Mather	25
2 The Peculiar History of Vaccinia	46
3 Vaccine Wars: Smallpox at the Turn of the Twentieth Century	70
Part 2 Golden Age
4 War Is Good for Babies	115
5 The Great American Fight Against Polio	160
6 Battling Measles, Remodeling Society	215
Part 3 Controversy
7 DTP and the Vaccine Safety Movement	251
8 No Good Deed Goes Unpunished	294
9 People Who Prefer Whooping Cough	327
10 Vaccines and Autism?	371
Epilogue: Our Best Shots	421
Acknowledgments	443
Notes	445
Index	499

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.