Vaccines: Are they Worth a Shot?

1. The parents of unvaccinated children

1.1. The 80s, the beginning of the crisis (or resistance)

1.2. Education about risk

1.3. Social changes: The doctor-patient relationship in jeopardy

1.4. Unexpected impact of late fecundity

2. A brief history of the anti-vaccination movements

2.1. The anti-vaccination movements between 1700 and 1800: Roots of obligation and objection

2.2. The anti-vaccination movements in 1900: Media and politics 3. Web alarms: autism, mercury and immune overload

3.1. Conspiracy on the Internet: separating fact from fiction

3.2. Economic criticism: Big Pharma and the allure of patents

3.3. Logic errors: the precautionary principle and the equal balance mistake

3.4. False or manipulated data: Autism

3.5. Prejudices and ideologies: Purported overload and weakening of the immune system

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4. The antivax "experts": five ways to recognize them

4.1. Alternative philosophies: homeopathy, anthroposophy and Waldarf -Steiner schools

4.2. The "alternative therapies": Five clues that reveal a charlatan

5. Past, present, and future of vaccines

5.1. Evolutionary history of naturally acquired immunity

5.2. Artificially acquired immunity: success and safety of vaccines

5.3. Therapeutic vaccines of the future: cancer and neurodegenerative diseases

6. Conclusions

6.1. A new alliance between scientists and citizens for a "knowledge society" 6.2. Some tools for good communication strategies to combat anti-vaccination resistance

Andrea Grignolio teaches the history of medicine at the Sapienza University of Rome and carries out research on the history of vaccinations at the Université François Rabelais of Tours. He has had an international education, which has taken him from Paris to Boston to Berkeley. He has published in national and international journals and writes for ¿la Repubblicä and ¿La Stampä.

"The book covers what the author sees as the future of vaccines and even a section on effectively communicating resistance to the anti-vaccine trend. While the book is translated from Italian and includes many European examples, it also incorporates examples and citations from US and Canadian sources and remains relevant to an American audience. The extensive reference list could be useful for anyone studying this topic." (C. A. Tomlinson, Choice, Vol. 56 (6), February, 2019)