Book Review: The Vaccine Book

By Robert Sears, M.D.; 278 pages. Subhead: Making the Right Decision for Your Child.

If your pediatrician doesn't have the time or the inclination to really talk you through your decision on vaccines, Dr. Sears is ready to step in with research on what goes into those shots, why it's there, and how concerned you should be about it. The decision, he still leaves up to you, but he shares some opinions and options on ways to vaccinate safely and responsibly. It's a remarkably civil consideration of an incendiary topic.

About the Guide Rating

I've often thought that what was missing in the vaccine debate was the ability of pediatricians to just sit down with parents, discuss all the issues, and work out some mutually agreeable accommodations. That's not something that gets to happen much anymore, with doctors pressed by insurance payments to see as many patients in a day as possible. But when medical professionals leave parents no choice but to do their own research, they're in a poor position to complain about the opinions formed.

Sears sees that problem, and considers another one: Maybe the reason your pediatrician can't discuss the details of vaccines is that he or she doesn't have them. Like patients, doctors have long been instructed that vaccines are a universal good not to be questioned. After an encounter with a vaccine opponent, Sears set out to really research those shots, and put the results in a format that both his patients and his colleagues could use as a reference.

He looks at each shot and describes the disease it guards against, the way it's made, and the concerns parents have. Then he gives an overview of some of the main safety issues -- toxic contents (and why you should worry more about aluminum than mercury), incomplete research, and scheduling that piles a lot of shots on babies. Included are two different amended vaccine schedules, depending on whether you want to forego as many shots as possible, or just space them out.

Thinking about this stuff is hard work, and you may long for the day when we could just take a doctor's word and be done with it. Still, if you've been thinking of ditching vaccines because the information isn't available to you to pick and choose, this book provides that. You still have to get your pediatrician to go along, but maybe passing on this book from a mainstream doctor will help.

Discuss this book.