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A review by balletbookworm
On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss
5.0
Excellent short of book of essays and meditations on the nature of vaccination as both a concept and a practice, the logic behind anti-vaccination, the history of compulsory medicine, the nature of scientific research, language/semantics, skepticism, the undying nature of stuff that gets on the Internet, and the anxiety that comes with being a parent.
As an epidemiologist, I requested (and was granted - thanks Graywolf Press!) an advance copy because I wanted to know what Biss - from the position of a parent and writer, not a scientist in any way - had to say about vaccination. Vaccination, in my line of work, is one of our front-line infectious disease prevention tools right behind handwashing and covering your cough/sneeze. It protects not only the individual but also those who cannot be immunized (infants, those with compromised immune systems, etc) from diseases that can take a huge toll in mortality and morbidity. A world where we lose that herd immunity due to "anti-vaxxers" which allows diseases like measles (a disease that killed tens of thousands of children in the pre-vaccine era of the 20th century) to run rampant is truly terrifying to me. Biss looks at a lot of her own fears and those of other mothers and then collates/arranges/dissects her research. I don't really want to comment a lot on her conclusions - because that would ruin the work of the book - but suffice to say she posits a lot of good arguments and writes it all very well. Everyone should read this.
As an epidemiologist, I requested (and was granted - thanks Graywolf Press!) an advance copy because I wanted to know what Biss - from the position of a parent and writer, not a scientist in any way - had to say about vaccination. Vaccination, in my line of work, is one of our front-line infectious disease prevention tools right behind handwashing and covering your cough/sneeze. It protects not only the individual but also those who cannot be immunized (infants, those with compromised immune systems, etc) from diseases that can take a huge toll in mortality and morbidity. A world where we lose that herd immunity due to "anti-vaxxers" which allows diseases like measles (a disease that killed tens of thousands of children in the pre-vaccine era of the 20th century) to run rampant is truly terrifying to me. Biss looks at a lot of her own fears and those of other mothers and then collates/arranges/dissects her research. I don't really want to comment a lot on her conclusions - because that would ruin the work of the book - but suffice to say she posits a lot of good arguments and writes it all very well. Everyone should read this.