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A review by toniclark
On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss
5.0
On Immunity is a thoughtful, honest, and eloquent look at the cultural issues surrounding vaccination and immunity. It’s also about fear and trust, illness and wellness, purity and contamination, the workings of capitalism and the workings of the imagination.
As Biss explores the source of many parents’ mistrust of vaccines, she uses herself as an example. When she was pregnant and after the birth of her son, she too was vulnerable to worries about her child’s safety. She, too, wondered about the safety of vaccines. Misinformation about vaccines (and many other things) is part of our culture. It’s everywhere. And it may be unrealistic to expect the average mother, even a well-educated one, to distinguish facts from fallacies. Most of us don’t have strong science backgrounds. Most of us were never even taught critical thinking skills in school. Biss comes down squarely on the side of science: vaccines are safe and life-saving. That’s not at issue. Rather, she explores the cultural and historic sources of many parents’ anxieties over them.
The thing is, Biss accepts the scientific position because she’s put in an inordinate amount of time and effort tracking down the facts. It’s complicated and time-consuming. Most people can’t do that and don’t have the ability to recognize misinformation (though often it’s merely a matter of considering the source). While all parents would agree that it’s “better to be safe than sorry,” many have no way of understanding what the safe choice is.
Even in the face thousands of studies and a lack of any evidence that vaccines are dangerous, more and more parents are choosing not to vaccinate, thereby exposing not their own children, but reducing the general level of immunity in the population (herd immunity) and putting at risk newborns and children who cannot be vaccinated for legitimate reasons (allergies. compromised immune systems). These parents are vulnerable to innumerable fears and to the “troubling dualisms” of our age that pit science against “nature,” public against private, reason against emotion, and self against other. It’s not a problem that can be solved by giving people the facts. “Our fears are informed by history and economics, by social power and stigma, by myths and nightmares. And as with other strongly held beliefs, our fears are dear to us. When we encounter information that contradicts our beliefs, . . . we tend to doubt the information, not ourselves.”
On Immunity is a brilliant exploration of these issues. I wish everyone could read it. The book is also beautifully written. Biss has received many awards and honors for her essays. She’s also a poet. And her love of language shows.
As Biss explores the source of many parents’ mistrust of vaccines, she uses herself as an example. When she was pregnant and after the birth of her son, she too was vulnerable to worries about her child’s safety. She, too, wondered about the safety of vaccines. Misinformation about vaccines (and many other things) is part of our culture. It’s everywhere. And it may be unrealistic to expect the average mother, even a well-educated one, to distinguish facts from fallacies. Most of us don’t have strong science backgrounds. Most of us were never even taught critical thinking skills in school. Biss comes down squarely on the side of science: vaccines are safe and life-saving. That’s not at issue. Rather, she explores the cultural and historic sources of many parents’ anxieties over them.
The thing is, Biss accepts the scientific position because she’s put in an inordinate amount of time and effort tracking down the facts. It’s complicated and time-consuming. Most people can’t do that and don’t have the ability to recognize misinformation (though often it’s merely a matter of considering the source). While all parents would agree that it’s “better to be safe than sorry,” many have no way of understanding what the safe choice is.
Even in the face thousands of studies and a lack of any evidence that vaccines are dangerous, more and more parents are choosing not to vaccinate, thereby exposing not their own children, but reducing the general level of immunity in the population (herd immunity) and putting at risk newborns and children who cannot be vaccinated for legitimate reasons (allergies. compromised immune systems). These parents are vulnerable to innumerable fears and to the “troubling dualisms” of our age that pit science against “nature,” public against private, reason against emotion, and self against other. It’s not a problem that can be solved by giving people the facts. “Our fears are informed by history and economics, by social power and stigma, by myths and nightmares. And as with other strongly held beliefs, our fears are dear to us. When we encounter information that contradicts our beliefs, . . . we tend to doubt the information, not ourselves.”
On Immunity is a brilliant exploration of these issues. I wish everyone could read it. The book is also beautifully written. Biss has received many awards and honors for her essays. She’s also a poet. And her love of language shows.