Paul A. Offit

Exploring the most fascinating and significant scientific missteps, the author presents seven cautionary lessons to separate good science from bad.

Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong

Pandora's Lab

Discusses the damages caused by the anti-vaccine movement and argues the necessity of vaccinations for children to prevent such diseases as measles, mumps, and whooping cough.

How the Anti-vaccine Movement Threatens Us All

Deadly Choices

Updated with a New Foreword "Medical writing at its finest."--David Oshinsky, author of Polio and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History Respected physician Paul Offit tells a fascinating story of modern medicine and pays tribute to one of the greatest lifesaving breakthroughs--vaccinations--and the medical hero responsible for developing nine of the big fourteen vaccines which have saved billions of lives worldwide. ?Maurice Hilleman's mother died a day after he was born and his twin sister was stillborn. Believing that he had escaped an appointment with death, he made it his life's work to see that others could do the same. The fruits of his labors were nine vaccines that practically every child receives, everyday miracles of modern medicine that have eradicated some of the most common--and devastating--diseases, including mumps and rubella. Offit, a vaccine researcher himself who co-invented the rotavirus vaccine, befriended Hilleman and, during the great man's final months, interviewed him extensively about his life and career. Those conversations are the heart of Vaccinated. In telling Hilleman's story, Offit takes us around the globe and across time, from the days of Louis Pasteur, to today, when a childhood vaccine can protect women from cervical cancer and stop a deadly pandemic like Covid-19. Yet these preventative treatments have come under increasing attack from both the left and right, and the anti-vaxxer movement that began with false reports over autism is growing at an alarming rate, threatening society's well-being, and especially those whose conditions prevent them from being vaccinated. Offit makes an eloquent and compelling case for Hilleman's importance, arguing that his name should be as well-known as Jonas Salk. Vaccinated reminds us of the value of vaccines and the power of science to save lives and protect our well-being.

One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases

Vaccinated

When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far

Overkill

Looks at the history of autism research and argues that the media and advocates have mislead the public in their declaration that childhood vaccinations are the cause of autism.

Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure

Autism's False Prophets

Uses real-life stories to present a scathing expose of the alternative medicine industry that debunks the treatments that don't work and takes on the media celebrities who promote alternative medicine.

The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine

Do You Believe in Magic?

"This essential guide from one of the world's premier vaccine experts will answer the key questions about the COVID-19 pandemic"--

An Insider's Guide to Deciphering Covid Myths and Navigating Our Post-Pandemic World

Tell Me When It's Over

Vaccines have saved more lives than any other single medical advance. Yet today only four companies make vaccines, and there is a growing crisis in vaccine availability. Why has this happened? This remarkable book recounts for the first time a devastating episode in 1955 at Cutter Laboratories in Berkeley, California, thathas led many pharmaceutical companies to abandon vaccine manufacture. Drawing on interviews with public health officials, pharmaceutical company executives, attorneys, Cutter employees, and victims of the vaccine, as well as on previously unavailable archives, Dr. Paul Offit offers a full account of the Cutter disaster. He describes the nation's relief when the polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk in 1955, the production of the vaccine at industrial facilities such as the one operated by Cutter, and the tragedy that occurred when 200,000 people were inadvertently injected with live virulent polio virus: 70,000 became ill, 200 were permanently paralyzed, and 10 died. Dr. Offit also explores how, as a consequence of the tragedy, one jury's verdict set in motion events that eventually suppressed the production of vaccines already licensed and deterred the development of new vaccines that hold the promise of preventing other fatal diseases.

How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis

The Cutter Incident

Science doesn’t speak for itself. Neck-deep in work that can be messy and confounding, and naïve in the ways of public communication, scientists are often unable to package their insights into the neat narratives that the public requires. Enter the celebrities, the advocates, the lobbyists, and the funders behind them, who take advantage of scientists’ reluctance to provide easy answers, flooding the media with misleading or incorrect claims about health risks. Amid this onslaught of spurious information, Americans are more confused than ever about what’s good for them and what isn’t. In Bad Advice, Paul A. Offit shares hard-earned wisdom on the do’s and don’ts of battling misinformation. For the past twenty years, Offit has been on the front lines in the fight for sound science and public heath. Stepping into the media spotlight as few scientists have done—such as being one of the first to speak out against conspiracy theories linking vaccines to autism—he found himself in the crosshairs of powerful groups intent on promoting pseudoscience. Bad Advice discusses science and its adversaries: not just the manias stoked by slick charlatans and their miracle cures but also corrosive, dangerous ideologies such as Holocaust and climate-change denial. Written with wit and passion, Offit’s often humorous guide to taking on quack experts and self-appointed activists is a must-read for any American disturbed by the recent uptick in politicized attacks on science.

Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren't Your Best Source of Health Information

Bad Advice

Stanley A. Plotkin

Walter A. Orenstein

Vaccines

Louis M. Bell

Here is a straightforward presentation of the facts surrounding the controversial topic of vaccines, a book that confused and worried parents can turn to for answers and reassurance. Most parents have questions about vaccines that doctors are too busy to answer, and too many parents, as a result, are not having their child vaccinated at all, thus putting them at risk. This timely book answers such questions as: Aren't most of these diseases eliminated anyway? Should my child have the new chicken pox vaccine? Could my baby get a bad batch of the vaccine and end up getting infected? Comprehensive information on the history of vaccines, the diseases that can be controlled through vaccination, and the risks and benefits associated with each vaccine will help parents decide whether or not to have their children vaccinated and which vaccines to approve. With this essential resource, parents can make the right decisions for their childrens' health and safety. New! In September 2000, Paul is launching a vaccine education page on the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia website. Check it out!

What Every Parent Should Know

Charlotte A. Moser

This book is a go-to guide for all families seeking trustworthy information about the science and safety of vaccines. Paul A. Offit and Charlotte A. Moser—scientists and parents with decades of experience—equip readers with the facts they need to navigate vaccine decisions for the whole family, from babies to elders. In straightforward prose, they offer accessible and authoritative answers to today’s most common vaccine-related questions. Offit and Moser explain how vaccines work, how they are made, and how they are tested. Chapters examine vaccine safety, ingredients, the workings of the immune system, and practical considerations from the implications of different medical conditions to missed doses. The book covers vaccines that have been available for decades as well as newer vaccines for illnesses such as RSV, COVID-19, and mpox, including both traditional and mRNA vaccines. The second half of the book is a guide to individual vaccines organized by age groups, including the first and second year of life, ages three to six, older children and teenagers, and adults. A timely resource for all families, this book allays unfounded fears and provides a clear, easy-to-understand picture of vaccines and vaccination. Vaccines and Your Family is a revised and updated edition of Vaccines and Your Child (2011) that expands coverage to include all ages and addresses recent scientific progress. It explores the new recommendations and new questions regarding vaccines that have arisen in the intervening years.

Separating Fact from Fiction

Vaccines and Your Family

This book answers the questions parents most often ask pediatricians about vaccines. It describes vaccines that are given to all children, vaccines that are given to children in special circumstances, and vaccines for parents and grandparents.

What Every Parent Should Know about Vaccines

Two leading advocates for modern vaccines answer parents' numerous questions about the underlying science of modern vaccines and the value of childhood immunization, while addressing parents' concerns about vaccine safety.

Vaccines & Your Child

Maurice Hilleman's mother died a day after he was born and his twin sister stillborn. As an adult, he said that he felt he had escaped an appointment with death. He made it his life's work to see that others could do the same. Born into the life of a Montana chicken farmer, Hilleman ran off to the University of Chicago to become a microbiologist, and eventually joined Merck, the pharmaceutical company, to pursue his goal of eliminating childhood disease. Chief among his accomplishments are nine vaccines that practically every child gets, rendering formerly dread diseases—including often devastating ones such as mumps and rubella—practically toothless and nearly forgotten; his measles vaccine alone saves several million lives every year. Vaccinated is not a biography; Hilleman's experience forms the basis for a rich and lively narrative of two hundred years of medical history, ranging across the globe and throughout time to take in a cast of hundreds, all caught up, intentionally or otherwise, in the story of vaccines. It is an inspiring and triumphant tale, but one with a cautionary aspect, as vaccines come under assault from people blaming vaccines for autism and worse. Paul Offit clearly and compellingly rebuts those arguments, and, by demonstrating how much the work of Hilleman and others has gained for humanity, shows us how much we have to lose.

Paul Offit, M D

Assistant Director Charlotte Moser

"Paul A. Offit and Charlotte A. Moser answer questions about the science and safety of modern vaccines. In straightforward prose, they explain how vaccines work, how they are made, and how they are tested. Most important, they separate the real risks of vaccines from feared but unfounded risks"--

Walter Orenstein

Apply the latest vaccination knowledge with a reference that Bill Gates calls "an indispensable guide to the enhancement of the well-being of our world." Inside Vaccines, you’ll find comprehensive and current coverage of every aspect of vaccination, from the development of each vaccine to its use in reducing disease. This medical reference book offers the expert information you need to apply the very latest techniques and information in your practice! Consult this title on your favorite e-reader, conduct rapid searches, and adjust font sizes for optimal readability. Gain a complete understanding of each disease, including clinical characteristics, microbiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as epidemiology and public health and regulatory issues. Update your knowledge of both existing vaccines and vaccines currently in the research and development stage. Get complete answers on each vaccine, including its stability, immunogenicity, efficacy, duration of immunity, adverse events, indications, contraindications, precautions, administration with other vaccines, and disease-control strategies. Analyze the cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness of different vaccine options. Clearly visualize concepts and objective data through an abundance of tables and figures. Make optimal use of the latest vaccines for pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, human papillomavirus, herpes zoster, meningococcal disease, and much more. Stay at the forefront of new developments with completely updated chapters on malaria and HIV vaccines, a new chapter on vaccine regulations across the world, and many other revisions throughout.

Vaccines E-Book

From one of America's top physicians, a "riveting," "fascinating," and "timely" (Nature) history of risk in medicine Every medical decision--whether to have chemotherapy, an X-ray, or surgery--is a risk, no matter which way you choose. In You Bet Your Life, physician Paul A. Offit argues that, from the first blood transfusions four hundred years ago to the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine, risk has been essential to the discovery of new treatments. More importantly, understanding the risks is crucial to whether, as a society or as individuals, we accept them. Told in Offit's vigorous and rigorous style, You Bet Your Life is an entertaining history of medicine. But it also lays bare the tortured relationships between intellectual breakthroughs, political realities, and human foibles. As we have learned from the COVID pandemic--the debates over lockdowns, masks, and vaccines--it's all too easy to get everything wrong. Updated with a new introduction, You Bet Your Life is an essential read for getting the future a bit more right.

From Blood Transfusions to Mass Vaccination, the Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation

You Bet Your Life

Get the straight facts about vaccines and make informed choices Do you wonder whether vaccines are safe and whether they are all really necessary? This completely revised and updated edition of the classic Vaccines: What You Should Know helps you sort through the latest information about vaccines in order to determine what is right for your family. Coauthored by Paul Offit, a member of the CDC advisory committee that determines which vaccines are recommended for use in the United States, this guide tells you what vaccines are made of and clearly explains how they are made, how they work, and the risks associated with them. This updated edition includes recommendations for the smallpox vaccine, the latest information on vaccines for travelers, and the latest on the progress of combination vaccines. Expanded information on vaccine safety includes discussion of vaccines and autism, mercury in vaccines, and the ability of children to tolerate numerous vaccines at once.

Paul A. Offit

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