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A review by northstar
Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All by Paul A. Offit
5.0
In 200 pages, Dr. Offit summarizes the history of the anti-vaccine movement and the current and future consequences of refusing these life-saving shots. Dr. Offit relies on statistics and medical research to make his arguments but he also illustrates them with stories of individuals whose children have suffered, and sometimes died, because they or their peers were not vaccinated.
Vaccination alone will not protect all children. Vaccination is a social compact; there will always be babies too young to receive vaccines, and some people's bodies will never develop the appropriate antibodies even with vaccination. Immunocompromised patients, such as those in chemotherapy, lose the immunity they developed from past vaccines.
One of the most heartbreaking sections of the book is a long list of cases in which parents were acquitted after withholding life-saving medical treatment from their children. Apparently, you can't leave your kid in the car while you run into the grocery store, but it is fine to let a diabetic child die because you don't believe in insulin treatment. Why is this relevant to vaccines? Offit believes that in light of these legal cases, the courts will never deny parents the right to refuse vaccines on religious or philosophical grounds. He sees two possible scenarios that will increase vaccination rates back to safe levels. One is for parents to talk to each other about the absolute necessity of vaccination. Science and stats don't convince anti-vaxxers but sometimes parental encouragement is successful.
The other scenario is to wait. Wait until vaccination rates drop even lower and the United States experiences an epidemic and hundreds or even thousands of children die from a preventable disease. Then, maybe, the anti-vaxxers will realize the value of immunization. Let's try not to get there.
Vaccination alone will not protect all children. Vaccination is a social compact; there will always be babies too young to receive vaccines, and some people's bodies will never develop the appropriate antibodies even with vaccination. Immunocompromised patients, such as those in chemotherapy, lose the immunity they developed from past vaccines.
One of the most heartbreaking sections of the book is a long list of cases in which parents were acquitted after withholding life-saving medical treatment from their children. Apparently, you can't leave your kid in the car while you run into the grocery store, but it is fine to let a diabetic child die because you don't believe in insulin treatment. Why is this relevant to vaccines? Offit believes that in light of these legal cases, the courts will never deny parents the right to refuse vaccines on religious or philosophical grounds. He sees two possible scenarios that will increase vaccination rates back to safe levels. One is for parents to talk to each other about the absolute necessity of vaccination. Science and stats don't convince anti-vaxxers but sometimes parental encouragement is successful.
The other scenario is to wait. Wait until vaccination rates drop even lower and the United States experiences an epidemic and hundreds or even thousands of children die from a preventable disease. Then, maybe, the anti-vaxxers will realize the value of immunization. Let's try not to get there.