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Your Baby's Best Shot: Why Vaccines Are Safe and Save Lives
Parents can easily be bombarded by conflicting messages about vaccines a dozen times each week. One side argues that vaccines are a necessary public health measure that protects children against dangerous and potentially deadly diseases. The other side vociferously maintains that vaccines are nothing more than a sop to pharmaceutical companies, and that the diseases they allegedly help prevent are nothing more than minor annoyances. An ordinary parent may have no idea where to turn to find accurate information. Your Baby's Best Shot is written for the parent who does not have a background in science, research, or medicine, and who is confused and overwhelmed by the massive amount of information regarding the issue of child vaccines. New parents are worried about the decisions that they are making regarding their children's health, and this work helps them wade through the information they receive in order to help them understand that vaccinating their child is actually one of the simplest and smartest decisions that they can make.Covering such topics as vaccine ingredients, how vaccines work, what can happen when populations don't vaccinate their children, and the controversies surrounding supposed links to autism, allergies, and asthma, the authors provide an overview of the field in an easy to understand guide for parents. In an age when autism diagnoses remain on the rise, when a single infectious individual can help spark an epidemic in three countries, when doctors routinely administer an often bewildering array of shots, and when parents swear their babies were fine until their first dosage of the MMR, the authors hope this book will serve as a crucial resource to help parents understand this vitally important issue.
220 pages, ebook
First published August 9, 2012
9 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 12, 2015
Who are these women and what made them think they were voices of authority on the subject?
June 4, 2014
It's really hard to find non-judgmental sources of information about vaccinations. This book was no exception. Is derision ever effective in changing someone's mind about something? "Organic vegetables and cloth diapering won't save your baby from diptheria" etc. Jeez. I enjoyed the history, learning about vaccine development, but could have used some concrete numbers as far as risks go. Reports varied from "1 in 1,000,000" (helpful!) to "very few" (how many?) to "extremely low risk" (which is what, exactly?). Since this is a topic that suffers from a wealth of misinformation and passionate debate, I feel like we could use less snark and more precision.
February 25, 2019
Misinformation, propaganda, half truths, shaming, one sided, fallacies. A much more fair book written by a pro-vaccine doctor is The Vaccine Book by Sears.
June 7, 2021
Oftentimes you hear people talk about having done "research" into a controversial health issue. What this commonly means for Internet users is a brief Google search followed by perusal of a few websites, which may or may not contain reliable information. Given the wilderness of competing claims online about benefits and drawbacks of vaccination, it is easy for parents to get confused about whether vaccines are right for their children.
This book offers a path through that wilderness. The authors, Stacy Herlihy and E. Allison Hagood have actually done research in the full meaning of the word, making the benefits and issues surrounding immunization readily understandable to non-medical readers with the bonus of a parent's perspective.*
There is historical context, valuable in understanding the impact of once-feared infectious diseases now conquered or greatly reduced by vaccines. The book has an excellent section that explains vaccine ingredients and debunks the scaremongering on this subject by antivaccine activists. Other myths and false claims about vaccines are dispelled.
The result is a highly readable and easy-to-understand book, with all the information parents will need to make sound and sensible choices for their children.
*some antivaccine critics have attempted to belittle this book because the authors are parents but not physicians. These are the same people who commonly accuse health professionals of ignoring or belittling the concerns of parents who have bought into misleading and false statements about vaccination. There's a certain irony here...
This book offers a path through that wilderness. The authors, Stacy Herlihy and E. Allison Hagood have actually done research in the full meaning of the word, making the benefits and issues surrounding immunization readily understandable to non-medical readers with the bonus of a parent's perspective.*
There is historical context, valuable in understanding the impact of once-feared infectious diseases now conquered or greatly reduced by vaccines. The book has an excellent section that explains vaccine ingredients and debunks the scaremongering on this subject by antivaccine activists. Other myths and false claims about vaccines are dispelled.
The result is a highly readable and easy-to-understand book, with all the information parents will need to make sound and sensible choices for their children.
*some antivaccine critics have attempted to belittle this book because the authors are parents but not physicians. These are the same people who commonly accuse health professionals of ignoring or belittling the concerns of parents who have bought into misleading and false statements about vaccination. There's a certain irony here...
October 21, 2021
Yes, get your kids vaccinated, but don't waste your money on this badly written book. Just google it. Like the writers did.
November 4, 2013
This book is an excellent resource for parents on vaccines. It is well researched, reasonable, and readable. Herlihy and Hagood have done a fantastic job describing the history, functions, ingredients, reactions, and myths concerning vaccines. This will be a go-to book for me when I'm dialoguing with those opposed to vaccines and those people in the fence.
Vaccinate your children and yourselves. They're safe and they save lives.
Vaccinate your children and yourselves. They're safe and they save lives.
April 15, 2015
Obviously by the title, this book is out to provide information leading to one conclusion. Seemingly well-researched, and interesting enough for someone without a medical background. Some very cool information about the history of vaccines (small pox specifically) and the 1998 study that fueled the anti-vaccine movement that rages on today.
January 5, 2014
Mostly I read this find out if it would be useful to recommend to people who want to know what all the fuss is about.
It is! But if the person you give it to does "research" by forwarding nut job websites on FB this book wont convince them.
It is! But if the person you give it to does "research" by forwarding nut job websites on FB this book wont convince them.
March 10, 2015
Very informative and concise that addresses prevailing myths about vaccination and debunks the anti-vaccination people with forcible and convincing facts and sciences. A good book to be recommended for parents or anyone who has doubts about vaccination of their kids or so.
January 5, 2017
Well-researched and easily accessible book on one of the most important topics of our time. This is a book I will be recommending to young parents who are concerned about the misinformation and scare-mongering that surrounds the vaccination question today.
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October 4, 2012Featured on Skeptically Speaking show #184 on October 7, 2012, during an interview with authors Allison Hagood and Stacy Herlihy. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...
November 13, 2013
Great information. Highly recommended!
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April 14, 2016Very well written for people that aren't rocket scientists to understand. Based on actual scientific research.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews