BETWEEN HOPE AND FEAR
A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity
By Michael Kinch
334 pp. Pegasus Books. $27.95.
As Michael Kinch tells us in “Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity,” vaccinations have saved millions, possibly billions, of lives. Along with antisepsis and anesthesia, they rank as one of the greatest achievements of scientific medicine. It is therefore deeply disturbing that in recent decades a significant minority of people in the world’s wealthier countries has become opposed to them. This anti-vaccination movement has even been given the nod by Donald Trump. To be effective, a vaccine requires that at least 95 percent of a population receive it — a phenomenon known as “herd immunity.” If even a small number of parents decide not to have their child vaccinated because of an alleged (and usually spurious) risk from the vaccine, they are putting enormous numbers of children at risk of contracting the disease the vaccine protects against.
Until the 19th century, human life was dominated by infectious illness. Up to 50 percent of children died before the age of 5, almost all from infections. Long exposure over centuries to some of these pathogens yielded some resistance, but the devastating potential of infectious diseases was demonstrated when Europeans arrived in the so-called New World. In Cuba and its surrounding islands, it is estimated that one-third of the population was killed by smallpox beginning in 1518, and two-thirds of the survivors by measles in 1529.
(continues)
A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity
By Michael Kinch
334 pp. Pegasus Books. $27.95.
As Michael Kinch tells us in “Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity,” vaccinations have saved millions, possibly billions, of lives. Along with antisepsis and anesthesia, they rank as one of the greatest achievements of scientific medicine. It is therefore deeply disturbing that in recent decades a significant minority of people in the world’s wealthier countries has become opposed to them. This anti-vaccination movement has even been given the nod by Donald Trump. To be effective, a vaccine requires that at least 95 percent of a population receive it — a phenomenon known as “herd immunity.” If even a small number of parents decide not to have their child vaccinated because of an alleged (and usually spurious) risk from the vaccine, they are putting enormous numbers of children at risk of contracting the disease the vaccine protects against.
Until the 19th century, human life was dominated by infectious illness. Up to 50 percent of children died before the age of 5, almost all from infections. Long exposure over centuries to some of these pathogens yielded some resistance, but the devastating potential of infectious diseases was demonstrated when Europeans arrived in the so-called New World. In Cuba and its surrounding islands, it is estimated that one-third of the population was killed by smallpox beginning in 1518, and two-thirds of the survivors by measles in 1529.
(continues)
No comments:
Post a Comment