Product Description With the spate of publicity surrounding the possible health risks posed by childhood immunization, parents are no longer simply following doctor's orders and automatically having their children vaccinated. Instead, they are asking questions. The problem is the search for answers only leads parents to conflicting, one-sided information: doctors claim that parents are endangering their child's life if they refuse shots, while radical vaccine opponents claim parents are endangering their child's life if they accept shots. With THE VACCINE BOOK, parents finally have one, fair, impartial, fact-based resource they can turn to for answers. Each chapter is devoted to a disease/vaccine pair and offer a comprehensive discussion of what the disease is, how common or rare it is, how serious or harmless it is, the ingredients of the vaccine, and any possible side effects from the vaccine. Ultimately, parents will have to make their own informed decisions as Dr. Bob Sears is neither pro-vaccine nor anti-vaccine. But THE VACCINE BOOK will provide exactly the information parents want and need as they make their way through the vaccination maze.
Gives parents the info to make their own decisionsNovember 7, 2007 Sue Stuever Battel(Michigan, USA) 172 out of 180 found this review helpful
As soon as I heard Dr. Bob Sears would be releasing a book to help parents make vaccine decisions, I pre-ordered it and waited two months for it to be published and arrive on my doorstep.
The Vaccine Book was well worth the wait. Finally, I was able to read detailed information about each vaccine choice available for my children. Dr. Sears thoroughly investigates all the options and lays them on the table for parents to decide. I worried that this approach might be a little wishy washy and leave me with more questions than answers, but he manages to get everything out there.
I've read plenty of pro-vax and no-vax literature. Most is either staunchly against any immunizations or suggests that parents should ask no questions and just do what the nice doctor says. There are even a few things written somewhere in between, in which the authors present their recommendations. It's hard to find something that presents all the facts so parents can make educated decisions. This book did it for me.
The Vaccine Book is very readable. Dr. Sears writes in language a layperson like me can easily understand. His conversational style makes it feel like he's sitting and talking to me. He's even a little funny at times. I especially enjoy his use of Star Trek wisdom (p. 220).
He goes through each of the 12 standard vaccine choices and answers the same questions for each vaccine-preventable disease: Is it common? Is it serious? Is it treatable? When is the vaccine given? How is the vaccine made? What ingredients are in the final solution? (Including "Are any of these ingredients controversial?") What are the side effects? Should you give your baby this vaccine? (Includes reasons to get it, reasons some people choose not to, travel considerations, and options to consider when getting it.) He ends each chapter with "The way I see it" summarizing key factors, yet he does not send a message that parents must do it one way or another. He covers special vaccines for travel and combination vaccines that reduce the number of shots given. There's a chapter for parents who decide to delay or decline vaccinations and one called "What Should I Do Now?" He offers Dr. Bob's Alternative Vaccine Schedule near the end of the book. It ends with 20 pages of additional resources in which he summarizes journal articles.
Reading The Vaccine Book left me confident I could make the right vaccination decisions for each of my children.
And a big plus for me: He recognizes breastfeeding as a way to reduce disease risk. On his list of eight ways to boost your child's immune system, "breastfeed" is No. 1.
The web site www.thevaccinebook.com promises online updates to the book as vaccines and data change. There's also a forum, blog and other resources.
This book is AWESOME!October 25, 2007 Dan Casselman(Somewhere in TX) 60 out of 68 found this review helpful
I got this book in the mail yesterday and have already finished it. It's great! For each disease, Dr. Sears lists the following questions: What is this disease? Is it common? Is it serious? Is it treatable? When is the vaccine given? How is it made? What ingredients are in the final solution? Are any of these ingredients controversial? What are the side effects? He then lists the reasons to get the vaccine, the reasons NOT to get the vaccine, travel considerations and his own opinion. These are exactly the questions that I wanted answered.
I would say that Dr. Sears is pro-vaccination, but also for a selective/separated vaccination schedule. He provides such a schedule in his book. He also discusses the controversies surrounding some of the ingredients in the vaccines, namely aluminum and human/animal tissues. This section will make any parent pause and question whether they really want these things injected into their child. He drew his information from the medical literature (or lack thereof in some cases). He provides a detailed "Resource" section at the end of the book so that you can pull all of his journal article, if you so choose.
Overall, this book was informative and well-balanced. Dr Sears does not go into great depth with each vaccine, which makes the book light reading, especially for a book on vaccinations. If you would like a more in-depth analysis, I would recommend Aviva Jill Romm's book "Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parents Guide".
A must have for EVERY parentMarch 27, 2008 Jennifer Barretta(new york) 6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have read many books on the dangers of vaccines, but this is the only one that presents the info in an objective, non-judgemental way.
The first part of the book goes through each vaccine, in the order that your child will receive them, and gives a brief history on the vaccine, the danger of the actual disease that the vaccination is for, how the vaccine is made (very useful if your child has any allergies) and of course the controversial ingredients.
The second part of the book covers vaccine safety research, and sometimes lack thereof. He also goes through all of the diseases for which we are vaccinated, and the statistics of contracting each disease in our general population.
The third part of the book covers vaccine side effects, what to do if your child has a reaction, and what to do to minimize the chances that your child will have a negative reaction.
The last part of the book goes through all of the questionable and sometimes unnecessary ingredients that are added to vaccines, and has a great chapter on the myths and questions that people have about vaccines.
The most useful part of this book, and the reason it is a must have for every parent, regardless of your beliefs in vaccinations, is that Dr. Sears includes a completely non-judgemental chapter on parents who delay or decline vaccinations along with 2 alternate vaccine schedules...one he thinks are 'must have' vaccines if you don't want to do the full vaccine schedule, and the other is the full vaccine schedule, but spaced out in such a way that it will help reduce negative effects.
I would recommend buying this book before you have your child, but as long as your child is still receiving vaccinations you can switch to the modified schedule at any time. It sounds like tedious information, but it is presented in a way that made me read this book from cover to cover effortlessly.
The Best Vaccine Book Out ThereOctober 24, 2007 Shawn C. Powell(Lafayette, CO USA) 11 out of 14 found this review helpful
Finally, some trustworthy information about vaccinations. I just got this book in the mail yesterday, but once I started reading, I was so excited to hear a doctor acknowledge that it is reasonable for parents to be wary of vaccinations and to decide against some of them, that I have read most of it already. The information about flu shots was especially valuable to me, because I didn't know most of it. I was delighted to read that Dr. Sears believes it is a good idea to space out vaccinations for infants and as a mother my instincts told me that from the get go. I feel very vindicated after a very long struggle with our Pediatricians. I also really appreciate the recommended vaccine list that Dr. Sears puts in this book and I think it is the best guide a parent can have. I am so thankful that Dr. Sears decided to write this book and I couldn't be happier with it's contents. It's not pro-vaccine and it's not anti-vaccine. It really takes into account all of the information that is out there about vaccines and definitely takes into account the things that scare many parents away from vaccines. Thank you, Dr. Sears. I have been waiting for a book like this for a very long time.
The Vaccine BookNovember 11, 2007 B. Kennen(Plainsboro, NJ) 8 out of 10 found this review helpful
I was searching for an alternative vaccination schedule for my child and one that excluded unnecessary vaccines. This book gave me that plus very detailed information about each vaccine and a balanced approach to the subject. I thought the information regarding aluminum and other ingredients was priceless. I searched for a long time to find a book that explained this frightening process in a very reasonable and sound manner. I would recommend this book to every parent.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
