Anti-vaxxers

July 1, 2020
A primer on the history of vaccination and the anti-vaccination movement. Berman seeks to present a complete picture of the anti-vaccination crusade from the 19th century to the present. Vaccination, which introduces an agent that creates immunity against a pathogen without causing the disease itself, can be traced as far back as the 16th century in China and India. But the first anti-vaccination response, involving the treatment of smallpox, was recorded in the mid-18th century in Britain. Perhaps understandably, there was a visceral repulsion to polluting one's body with unknown, possibly toxic materials. Here and elsewhere, Berman deliberately investigates the psyche of anti-vaxxers to see what makes them tick. While he appreciates that many anti-vaccine parents want the best for their children, a host of factors have gotten in the way of good science. In the 19th century, there were issues of social class, individual rights, mandatory vaccination, the cost of treatment, preserving the integrity of the body, and poor laws that stripped the destitute of "the last dignity they were afforded: control of their own bodies." In the 20th and 21st centuries, the greatest influencer has been the media, which has allowed misinformation to spread like wildfire without giving the same airtime to the refutations of fearmongers. Subsequently discredited papers associating vaccination with autism made a big splash, but the arguments against the flawed studies scarcely caused a media ripple. Also causing wariness on the part of anti-vaxxers is distrust of government and pharmaceutical companies as well as vaccine hesitancy encouraged by some religious sects, and countless crackpot remedies have flourished in lieu of scientifically sound medical practices. Berman acknowledges the difficulty in changing the mind of an anti-vaxxer, and he stresses that much more can be accomplished through building trust in scientific research and community-based activism than mocking on Facebook. Berman dispels anti-vax fears and subterfuges with straight, scientific evidence.

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July 27, 2020
Science professor Berman debuts with a useful guide for readers concerned about the opposition to vaccinations. He surveys the history of vaccine hesitancy and the varying motives behind it, noting that, for instance, a young Mahatma Gandhi opposed the Raj’s heavy-handed approach to vaccinating its Indian subjects, but later changed his mind after a smallpox outbreak. Berman then discusses recent opposition to vaccination, persuasively eviscerating claims that it causes autism, most infamously in a 1998 British medical paper later proven a fraud. He also examines the role social media and celebrities have played in keeping these claims alive, noting that Russian intelligence operations against Ukraine extended to promoting anti-vaccine Twitter accounts to that country’s population. The book’s greatest value comes from its insights into how common cognitive errors can lead even the well-informed to see false correlations between vaccination and health problems. Berman also provides practical suggestions about how best to engage, and potentially convert, vaccine opponents, arguing that “people change their own minds; we can’t do it for them.” Given hopes for a Covid-19 vaccine, this accomplished exploration of a vexing topic couldn’t be more timely.

August 1, 2020

Berman (basic sciences, New York Inst. of Technology Coll. of Osteopathic Medicine-Arkansas) addresses the current anti-vaccination movement and its followers ("anti-vaxxers") through a historic lens. The book does not attack the movement, but rather provides readers with historical and cultural context to understanding the beliefs of those within the anti-vaccination movement. He begins with a history of vaccines themselves, and how diseases such as smallpox and the plague affected societies as well as scientific education. This history also includes profiles of leading figures in variolation, such as English physician Edward Jenner, who contributed to the development of the smallpox vaccine. The author explains resistance to Jenner's smallpox vaccine, which was considered radical at the time, and how initial resistance to vaccines was influenced by social class, the concept of individual liberties and rights, and changing views about health and medicine. VERDICT Recommended for those countering the anti-vaccination movement, as well as those with an interest in cultural and historical antecedents of the movement.--Rachel M. Minkin, Michigan State Univ. Libs., East Lansing

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