Customer Reviews

The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The title of my review comes from a quote in the book by Arthur Allen, who was describing what, to date, has been the penultimate courtroom showdown in the debate over vaccines and autism. As a mother, I could not agree more. Decisions related to our children's healthcare are agonizing and should be done carefully, using the best information available. In my opinion, this book summarizes that information as well as can be done when distilling complex science down to its most elemental truths. Even though to me it was pretty clear which side of the debate the author falls on, he nevertheless managed to present both sides of the argument and write a pretty engaging story while at it.

The Panic Virus focuses primarily on the debate over vaccines, thimerosal, and autism, but it doesn't end there. Mnookin doesn't gloss over mistakes that were made by the CDC and other government bodies in overseeing the safety of multiple vaccines. Even as someone who has a lot of respect for the contributions of vaccines to public health, I was taken aback by some of the points he made regarding the lack of rigorous safety studies in some areas related to vaccines.

However, he also presents the science that has demonstrated as conclusively as possible that vaccines do not cause autism. Those looking for the ultimate proof of a negative will not find it here, because it cannot be done using science, as Mnookin points out. He also covers some of the psychological reasons for why people are so willing to believe in junk science, and discusses Andrew Wakefield's chicanery in detail. Finally, he gives a voice to families whose children have been harmed by the anti-vaccination movement.

In fairness, one or two of the more esoteric points about the science are a tiny bit off the mark. But this should not distract the reader from the brick wall of scientific evidence presented regarding the lack of an association between vaccines and autism. I am surprised that this book has not gotten more media coverage given the topic. It's well-researched, well-written, and about as fair as can be given the heated subject. It's simply appalling that the science of this controversial story does not get the press that the more sensational anti-vaccinators have received. Read it with an open mind.

Excellent, and (despite what some will say) relatively unbiased account of the history and consequences of anti-vaccine sentiment. As a scientist, it is fascinating, but maddening to read the accounts of entire nationwide organizations devoted to denying what real, peer-reviewed, well-designed science has shown them.

Reviews for this book in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Nature (the world's top scientific journal), the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, New Scientist, and many, many others have all been highly positive, and that's for a reason: Mnookin has carefully and masterfully parsed the story of the fear that has built up around vaccines and how that happened. But even as he focuses meticulously on the facts and evidence about vaccines, he is compassionate and understanding of the fear--and yes, the panic--that have driven one of the most groundless panic attacks the world has seen over a medical intervention. He does not hesitate to call out his own in this book, pointing to the news media as having played a substantial role in beating the panic drums. As anyone who's spent time in the "vaccine wars" foxholes knows, this issue remains a highly contentious one, and some people will cling to the wrong information and wrong icons no matter what the facts say. But, Mnookin's book isn't for them; it's for anyone who's seriously looking for information and context, whether that's a new parent considering vaccines for their child for the first time or an open-minded explorer trying to trace how it is that the greatest public health success in history came to be demonized. He does it without becoming shrill, with a measured and thoughtful voice throughout. Highly recommended.

Quite simply, this is one of the best books I have read in years. The "topic" is the anti-vaccination movement, and how inaccurate (to put it politely) research led to thousands of parents being scared to have their children vaccinated for fear vaccines cause autism. But the context goes so much further. What Sean Mnookin points out exceptionally clearly is the way in which our politicians and media could be manipulated into giving the research of Andrew Wakefield a credibility it clearly never should have had. It is a case study on how passionate advocates, with the aid of the Internet, can take control of an issue and overwhelm well-done and proper science. It is perhaps one of the most egregious cases of this sort, but, as Mnookin points out, it is certainly not the only one. This book ought to be required reading for every high school student in the land to increase their media literacy and, we might hope, to prevent so many from getting caught up in the next great non-issue of the day.

I went into this book knowing all about the lying scam artist "Doctor" Wakefield and the flawed "logic" behind anti-vaccine activists. I had read (and loved) "Denialism", and I really just expected more of the same.

I was wrong. This book places the current anti-vaccine/ anti-science plague spreading across America in a historical context in which I had never considered it. It was fascinating to read about the flawed polio trials, and how fear of vaccinations has been with us even though crude, ur-vaccinations were present in 8th Century India.

I don't want to give everything away about this book because Mr. Mnookin writes so wonderfully. To attempt to distill it into a few words here would be unfair. If you are interested in learning more about how and why people cling to anti-scientific beliefs, and how history keeps on repeating itself despite all of our advances, you absolutely must read this book.

As a primary care physician, I have faced the anxious questions of parents fearful of endangering their children with vaccines that they perceived as unsafe. As a parent and grandparent, I easily understood their fear. However, as a clinician and scientist, I had always been skeptical of the Wakefield studies and accepted the goverments review of the data. With what we now know about the truly fraudulent and misleading aspects of Dr. Wakefield's report, it was with great relief that I read Seth Mnookin's detailed and compassionate review of the vaccine story. Seth's appreciation of a parent's anxiety is balanced by a sharp and incisive dissection of the sad history of the impact of the vaccine panic on the lives of those who suffered from preventable diseases. The disability and death that resulted from the adoption of Dr. Wakefield's false warnings is sobering. While parents should remain vigilant about their children's safety, the facts as presented by Seth Mnookin should be acceptable to even the most rigid skeptic. Thank you Seth for bringing light to this important dark episode.

The Panic Virus is a must-read for anyone who wonders: Why did our culture fall so hard for vaccine misinformation? Why did that misinformation proliferate? Mr. Mnookin targets the media, for fanning vaccine fear flames without bothering to determine the fires' sources. For allowing celebrities to showcase false minority viewpoints as unchallenged truths. As E.B. White's Charlotte the Spider said, "People believe almost anything they see in print," and her statement can be upgraded to "anything they see on TV" as well.

If you're short on time, read The Panic Virus's harrowing first five pages, in which an intentionally unvaccinated child nears death from the vaccine-preventable disease Hib. And in my opinion the first 20 pages, which map out misinformation-based vaccine fears' rise and consequences, should be shared by every pediatrician in the country (pssst: if you have an iPad, you can download The Panic Virus's first section as a free preview).

It is easy to get riled up by fear-baiting sound bites about autism & vaccines. It takes time to investigate the story behind them. Thankfully, Mr. Mnookin has done a good portion of research for you (I'd recommend Paul Offit's Deadly Choices to round out the picture more completely, in terms of the science).

Highly, highly recommended.

This book should be required reading for everyone with children. And everyone who comes into contact with other human beings on a regular basis. Seth Mnookin has turned his expert reporting skills to this timely topic and delivered a clear, enlightening, and definitive work. It's also a page-turner, full of fascinating historical details, kooky characters, bad decisionmaking, and vital insight into human psychology. Most of all, it shows how easy--and dangerous--it is for emotion to overwhelm evidence.

It's rare to find an even-handed book about an explosive issue that remains engaging, but The Panic Virus succeeds brilliantly. The writing is gripping, and Mr. Mnookin considers all sides of the issue fairly - at various points in the book he criticizes the lack of effective compensation for vaccine-related injuries, ineffective communication by the public health community, and contaminated vaccine batches (a product of less-than-ideal oversight). However, most of his criticism lands directly on those promoting anti-vaccination, especially the antics of Andrew Wakefield, the physician/researcher who recently had his license revoked for gross ethical violations and fraudulent research. The book also examines why this movement has gained so much steam in recent years and the psychological factors behind its acceptance and spread.

Most importantly, Mr. Mnookin's reporting on those families with autistic children is compassionate and attempts to understand why they chose to accept vaccination as a cause of their child's disorder rather than simply labeling them as ignorant or anti-scientific. Many of these people are intelligent, well-educated (although admittedly not in a scientific field), and genuinely acting in what they believe is their child's best interest. Although horribly mistaken, the hope that the anti-vaccination camp offers is especially alluring considering that the cause of autism has yet to be established. The media play a huge role in spreading the false message that vaccination can lead to autism/cause other problems and Mr. Mnookin provides a rigorous and compelling critique of their role in the "manufactured controversy" and places some of the blame for the recent increase of vaccine-preventable diseases squarely on their shoulders.

The Panic Virus is an excellent and well-written introduction to the subject that starkly portrays the clinical realities and personal horror that result when vaccine-preventable diseases affect children, sometimes fatally. The research is exhaustive and Mr. Mnookin carefully documents his sources while providing a sound critique of the science and reasoning that contradict his conclusions. I highly recommend this book for anyone curious about the possible long-term impact of declining vaccination rates or for those interested in how public health, basic research, public policy, and the media interact in the face of a growing health crisis.

This book tells the truth about the anti-vaccination movement. It also shows what happens when non-scientific people like Jenny McCarthy (famous for getting naked) are hit with a personal tragedy. They start to grasp at straws. Unfortunately the internet puts a lot of dumb ideas into minds that aren't equipped to filter the good from the bad.

All in all this is a great book for skeptics in general and especially for those interested in how the public does not understand science.