The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child (Sears Parenting Library) (Paperback)

~ Robert Sears (Author)
Key Phrases: standard side effects, unvaccinated kids, vaccine solution, United States, Sanofi Pasteur, Recommended Vaccine Schedule Birth Hep (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sears, coauthor of several books in the Sears Parenting series, addresses one of today's most controversial and worrisome questions. Sears' goal is "to give you a balanced look at pros and cons of vaccination so that you can make an educated decision." Sears does not advocate for or rail against vaccination, stating it doesn't have to be an all or nothing decision-there are choices. The first 12 chapters discuss each vaccination in the childhood series, providing explanation of the relative disease, how the vaccine is made and points to assess a child's at-risk level when considering if the vaccine is necessary. Sears does offer guidance for those who are indecisive, offering his opinion based on clinical experience and 13 years of research taken from product inserts, pediatric reference books, articles and databases. Additional chapters illuminate more controversial aspects of the debate, such as how vaccine safety is researched and what the findings are, side effects and how to minimize them, common myths and questions. As always, Sears' tone puts readers at ease as he clearly explains medical terms and elucidates debates.
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Review

An exhaustively researched guidebook. (Newsday )

It's the most evenhanded and thorough look at baby immunizations we've yet seen. (Babytalk )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (October 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316017507
• ISBN-13: 978-0316017503
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (259 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #622 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #1 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Medical > Basic Sciences > Immunology
  #4 in	Books > Parenting & Families > Parenting > Babies & Toddlers > Infants
  #5 in	Books > Parenting & Families > Parenting > Child Care

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

172 of 180 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives parents the info to make their own decisions, November 6, 2007

By	Sue Stuever Battel (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As soon as I heard Dr. Bob Sears would be releasing a book to help parents make vaccine decisions, I pre-ordered it and waited two months for it to be published and arrive on my doorstep.

The Vaccine Book was well worth the wait. Finally, I was able to read detailed information about each vaccine choice available for my children. Dr. Sears thoroughly investigates all the options and lays them on the table for parents to decide. I worried that this approach might be a little wishy washy and leave me with more questions than answers, but he manages to get everything out there.

I've read plenty of pro-vax and no-vax literature. Most is either staunchly against any immunizations or suggests that parents should ask no questions and just do what the nice doctor says. There are even a few things written somewhere in between, in which the authors present their recommendations. It's hard to find something that presents all the facts so parents can make educated decisions. This book did it for me.

The Vaccine Book is very readable. Dr. Sears writes in language a layperson like me can easily understand. His conversational style makes it feel like he's sitting and talking to me. He's even a little funny at times. I especially enjoy his use of Star Trek wisdom (p. 220).

He goes through each of the 12 standard vaccine choices and answers the same questions for each vaccine-preventable disease: Is it common? Is it serious? Is it treatable? When is the vaccine given? How is the vaccine made? What ingredients are in the final solution? (Including "Are any of these ingredients controversial?") What are the side effects? Should you give your baby this vaccine? (Includes reasons to get it, reasons some people choose not to, travel considerations, and options to consider when getting it.) He ends each chapter with "The way I see it" summarizing key factors, yet he does not send a message that parents must do it one way or another. He covers special vaccines for travel and combination vaccines that reduce the number of shots given. There's a chapter for parents who decide to delay or decline vaccinations and one called "What Should I Do Now?" He offers Dr. Bob's Alternative Vaccine Schedule near the end of the book. It ends with 20 pages of additional resources in which he summarizes journal articles.

Reading The Vaccine Book left me confident I could make the right vaccination decisions for each of my children.

And a big plus for me: He recognizes breastfeeding as a way to reduce disease risk. On his list of eight ways to boost your child's immune system, "breastfeed" is No. 1.

The web site www.thevaccinebook.com promises online updates to the book as vaccines and data change. There's also a forum, blog and other resources.

60 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is AWESOME!, October 25, 2007

By	Dan Casselman "dan and rachel" (Somewhere in TX) - See all my reviews

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I got this book in the mail yesterday and have already finished it. It's great! For each disease, Dr. Sears lists the following questions: What is this disease? Is it common? Is it serious? Is it treatable? When is the vaccine given? How is it made? What ingredients are in the final solution? Are any of these ingredients controversial? What are the side effects? He then lists the reasons to get the vaccine, the reasons NOT to get the vaccine, travel considerations and his own opinion. These are exactly the questions that I wanted answered.

I would say that Dr. Sears is pro-vaccination, but also for a selective/separated vaccination schedule. He provides such a schedule in his book. He also discusses the controversies surrounding some of the ingredients in the vaccines, namely aluminum and human/animal tissues. This section will make any parent pause and question whether they really want these things injected into their child. He drew his information from the medical literature (or lack thereof in some cases). He provides a detailed "Resource" section at the end of the book so that you can pull all of his journal article, if you so choose.

Overall, this book was informative and well-balanced. Dr Sears does not go into great depth with each vaccine, which makes the book light reading, especially for a book on vaccinations. If you would like a more in-depth analysis, I would recommend Aviva Jill Romm's book "Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parents Guide".

89 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Provides good research, but I don't agree with all his conclusions, November 30, 2007

By	Tenna Merchent (Noblesville, IN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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I really liked this book. It is written by a mainstream, famous medical doctor. He's the darling of La Leche League, has written several books, and been on TV. He provides a lot of good research as to why we don't need to follow the traditional vaccine schedule.

Chapter 1-A note to fellow physicians
He says "we receive little information on vaccines, other than that they are safe and effective..." He also says that a number of pediatricians have dismissed families who won't vaccinate, and that goes against what the American Academy of Pediatricians says a doctor should do. Instead, continued refusal to vaccinate after adequate discussion should be respected, and doctors should avoid dismissing patients from their practice simply because they don't vaccinate.

I don't like the order he uses to discuss each vaccine. If I were doing it, I would have gone in the order the vaccines are given. I have no idea how he chose his order. But chapter 2 is about the HIB.

Chapter 2-haemophilus influenzae type B and the HIB vaccine

Haemophilus influenzae type B is a bacterium that normally remains in the nose, ears or throat and only causes cold symptoms. Only rarely does it invade further into the body, but it can on occasion and has been know to cause serious illness such as meningitis, blood infections, bone infections and pneumonia. There are only about 25 serious cases a year today, although in the `80s there were about 200,000 cases per year. Of the serious cases there is about a 5% fatality rate and in 25% of the cases there is residual brain damage. A serious infection is rare beyond age 3. It is treated with intravenous antibiotics.

In vaccine trials more babies who received the vaccine caught a serious infection than the unvaccinated.

Dr. Sears also points out that a breastfed baby that does not go to day care is at particularly low risk of contracting this illness.

He says on page 11 that to be get protection from a vaccine, for instance in the case of travel, you need to have it 3 months prior to the event.

Some versions of the HIB have aluminum as high as 1500 micrograms. He discusses aluminum in great detail later. He points out on page 195 that a toxic dose of aluminum for a newborn can be as low as 10 to 20 micrograms.

Unfortunately, even given all this information, he still recommends this particular vaccine, which I disagree with.

This is just a synopsis of 2 chapters, there are 17 others, most of them with loads of good information. There are several vaccines that he does not think are necessary and he provides detailed insight into why. I do recommend you read this book, but don't just blindly follow his advice. Look at the facts yourself before you decide if the risk is worth it.

If you are interested in the vaccine debate, I also recommend Vaccines: What CDC Documents and Science Reveal. It is an excellent DVD created by a mainstream ER doctor who stumbled across the vaccine debate, and became obsessed with it. I like it because there are some people who simply won't take the time to read a book on vaccines, but they will watch a DVD. Hopefully, you will do both.

Review written by Tenna Merchent, author of He's Not Autistic But...: How We Pulled Our Son From the Mouth of the Abyss.