The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child

I really enjoyed this book. Very informative and made me feel a lot more comfortable with my decisions about vaccinating my baby. ( )

informative and not overly biased either way. pretty comprehensive, although already outdated. still want info from our pediatrician, but very very helpful. ( )

The closest thing to a balanced view of vaccinations that I've found. Bob Sears goes through the vaccines one by one, and brand by brand, finds all of the research that is out there, and delivers it in a mostly unbiased way. He clearly supports vaccinating children, but admits that there are some unanswered questions that might give parents pause and explores the limits of the research we currently have available. He is respectful of parents' concerns and also of their role as the ultimate decision-makers for their children.

Before reading this book, I was afraid to vaccinate my second child at all, even though I believed it was important from a public health standpoint. This book helped me to design a schedule that met my need for the safety of my individual children and my need to participate in the health of our larger society. And it helped me to approach my doctor with confidence when presenting my schedule and my reasoning behind it. I'm not the type of person who'll ever feel 100% confident I've made the right choices, but I feel one heck of a lot more comfortable with my decisions this time around than when I was flying blind with my first child and her vaccinations. ( )

The fact that some people hate this book for being too pro-vaccine and others to anti- indicates the middle ground it occupies. I found it to be perfect for someone like me. I'm not a vaccine conspiracy theorist--the evidence seems clear that they don't cause autism, for instance, and I believe they're a major public health boon--but I ten to be a little more cautious about medicine and medical care than many others. I had a niggling feeling that I ought to be concerned about vaccines, but didn't know why. For each vaccine, Sears' book explains what's in it, why some people are worried about the vaccine, and what sort of disease it's designed to prevent. He also offers an alternative schedule, though he doesn't push it. I found it really helpful in making decisions about my newborn. ( )

As a mother, I sometimes feel overwhelmed with all of the decisions I make as a parent on a daily basis. It is so hard to make the best decisions for your children and you just want them to be happy and healthy. Choosing whether/and how to vaccinate your kids is no easy decision. There is so much biased literature out there and the debate can be very heated. The possible (unproven) risk of autism connected to vaccinating is scary to me. So I chose to read this book because it is written by a well-known doctor, Dr. Sears, and he is neither anti- or pro-vaccination. He describes each vaccine, what it's made of, how it's made, the risks and side effects of it, and much more. He lays out all of the options in a clear, way that any parent could understand. The book also includes 2 alternative vaccination schedules. After reading the book, I have a good idea of which vaccines I want to have administered to my children and when. I now understand which vaccines should not be given together also. This is a book I would recommend to any parent who is struggling with decisions regarding vaccinations. ( )