Vaccinated: Triumph, Controversy, and An Uncertain F [Kindle Edition]
Author: Paul A. Offit M.D. | Language: English | ISBN: B000ROKXVA | Format: PDF, EPUB
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Maurice Hilleman's mother died a day after he was born and his twin sister stillborn. As an adult, he said that he felt he had escaped an appointment with death. He made it his life's work to see that others could do the same. Born into the life of a Montana chicken farmer, Hilleman ran off to the University of Chicago to become a microbiologist, and eventually joined Merck, the pharmaceutical company, to pursue his goal of eliminating childhood disease. Chief among his accomplishments are nine vaccines that practically every child gets, rendering formerly dread diseases—including often devastating ones such as mumps and rubella—practically toothless and nearly forgotten; his measles vaccine alone saves several million lives every year.
Vaccinated is not a biography; Hilleman's experience forms the basis for a rich and lively narrative of two hundred years of medical history, ranging across the globe and throughout time to take in a cast of hundreds, all caught up, intentionally or otherwise, in the story of vaccines. It is an inspiring and triumphant tale, but one with a cautionary aspect, as vaccines come under assault from people blaming vaccines for autism and worse. Paul Offit clearly and compellingly rebuts those arguments, and, by demonstrating how much the work of Hilleman and others has gained for humanity, shows us how much we have to lose.
Books with free ebook downloads available Vaccinated: Triumph, Controversy, and An Uncertain F [Kindle Edition]- File Size: 1833 KB
- Print Length: 274 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 006122796X
- Publisher: HarperCollins e-books; Reprint edition (October 13, 2009)
- Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
- Language: English
- ASIN: B000ROKXVA
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,106 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #37 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Biology > Microbiology
- #37 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > Biological Sciences > Biology > Microbiology
- #49 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Medical eBooks > Internal Medicine > Infectious Disease > Communicable Diseases
I love this book. I appreciate the realistic portrayal of Maurice Hilleman and his contemporaries, and how realistic the portrayal of the way vaccines were created in the 1950's, including the fact that the scientists tested out the vaccines on themselves and their families. I think I will always remember the pictures of Hilleman's daughters including the one who had been the host of the mumps virus that her father turned into a vaccine for mumps. It is officially called the Jeryl Lynn mumps strain even today. Hilleman encouraged his daughters to study science.By C. Clark
I also like Dr. Offit's style of writing.
Dr. Offits chronology of Maurice Hillemans life is not only interesting because of the remarkable ascent and achievements of this virtually unknown genius, but also because Dr. Offit places the development of vaccines into the context of a world that did not have the resources & knowledge of scientists today.By Constantin
Because vaccines have been such a success, the general population no longer knows what it is like to live through a genuine pandemic. We no longer see children living in iron lungs, walking the streets with shriveled limbs, etc. Yet, at one point, Polio was a very common disease. Similarly, we learn why so many schools for the deaf and blind have closed - because general vaccination drives have made the diseases that lead to these outcomes exceedingly rare. As a result, Dr. Offit points out that the current trend towards avoiding vaccinations due to unfounded fears will only result in one certainty: More dead, and crippled children.
That is not to say that vaccinations have been an unbridled success from the start. There were issues and outright charlatans then, just as there are now. However, modern science, with its much better reporting, aggregation, and statistical analysis of outcomes has done a fantastic job of minimizing adverse reactions to vaccines, determining cause-and-effect when there were reactions (caused by the vaccine or other unrelated factors). As Dr. Offit illustrates, the certainty with which some parents attribute MMR vaccines to autism issues are simply not supported by the facts; correlation is not causation.
All in all, a very powerful and insightful book written by a courageous man. After all, the autism-was-caused-by-a-vaccine bandwagon has not shown any signs yet of abating. All too understandable, I suppose, when the more likely cause of Autism will be found in the genetics of the parents. It's harder to take ones own blame in a issue than assign it to others.
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