''Your Baby's Best Shot: Why Vaccines are Safe and Save Lives'' is a 2012 pro-vaccine book, published by

Rowman and Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, and written by E. Allison Hagood, a psychology professor, and Stacy Mintzer Herlihy, a freelance writer from

Roseland, New Jersey Roseland is a borough in western Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 5,819,Paul Offit Paul Allan Offit (born March 27, 1951) is an American pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, ...

Summary

The book's introduction states: "I hope that anyone reading this book will read it and gain an understanding why vaccines are so vitally important to the health and well being of all of us." Chapter 1 describes who the authors are, their own experiences with vaccines, and what motivated them to write this book. Chapter 2 focuses on the story of

Edward Jenner Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...

and the development of the first vaccine. Chapter 3 discusses the biological mechanisms by which vaccines work, as well as the concept of

herd immunity Herd immunity (also called herd effect, community immunity, population immunity, or mass immunity) is a form of indirect protection that applies only to contagious diseases. It occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population has become imm ...

. Chapter 4 discusses the anti-vaccine claims about how vaccines contain "dangerous ingredients" such as

formaldehyde Formaldehyde ( , ) (systematic name methanal) is a naturally occurring organic compound with the formula and structure . The pure compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde (refer to section F ...

and

polymyxin B Polymyxin B, sold under the brand name Poly-Rx among others, is an antibiotic used to treat meningitis, pneumonia, sepsis, and urinary tract infections. While it is useful for many Gram negative infections, it is not useful for Gram positive infe ...

Reviews

Kristen Kemp of ''

Parents A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...

'' called the book a "great resource", and ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' wrote that it was "extensively researched and forceful." Another positive review came from

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...

, where Karen Springen wrote that "This thoroughly researched book should convince even ardent vaccine skeptics that the benefits of giving kids shots to prevent illnesses far outweigh any negatives," and

David Gorski David Henry Gorski is an American surgical oncologist, professor of surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine, and a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, specializing in breast cancer surgery. He is an out ...

wrote that the book was "essential reading for all new parents with any doubts at all about vaccines."

References

{{Reflist 2012 non-fiction books History books about medicine Rowman & Littlefield books