Anti-vaxxers How to challenge a misinformed movement

Review by Choice Review

The anti-vaccine movement is typically associated with attempts over the past few decades to link vaccines with disorders such as autism. Yet, history shows that anti-vaccine rhetoric has been around for much longer, dating back to the development of the first vaccines some 200 years ago. It is partly through this historical lens that Berman (New York Institute of Technology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Arkansas campus) seeks to understand the current "anti-vaxxer" movement and to explore ways in which it can be effectively addressed. His thesis is that the anti-vaccine position is multifactorial, involving not only issues surrounding correct vaccine information, but also socioeconomic issues and issues around health care access, vaccine marketing, and cultural sensitivity. A problem in any one of these areas is enough to decrease vaccination rates within a given population. Occurring together, such problems can quickly erase the overall gains against infectious disease achieved in the past century. Far from a polemic against anti-vaxxers and their ideas, this accessible and informative book provides not only a rational analysis of the many sources of anti-vaccine thinking, but also practical ideas that can be used to overcome objections against vaccines. Extensive notes and references make this a good starting point for readers who want to delve deeper. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Randall K. Harris, William Carey University

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

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. (Sept.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

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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Review by Kirkus Book Review

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. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Anti-vaccine activists have been successful in limited ways by establishing doubt within isolated communities. In the United States, when rates have dropped low enough in enclaves that an outbreak occurs, historically, the reaction has been swift, culturally competent, and very effective in recovering vaccination rates. In absolute numbers, the number of children who have died because of these outbreaks in the United States is low. These data are heartening because they show that the overall impact of the anti-vaccine movement has been low. However, if you are a parent or relative of a child who does become infected with a vaccine-preventable illness, your child is still sick. If you are a parent whose children attend school, you will have an interest in knowing that your community has high vaccination rates. If you are the parent of an immunocompromised child who is unable to be vaccinated, membership in a community where immunization rates are high is an important step in protecting your child's life. Oscillations between minor outbreaks and adequate vaccination rates is less desirable than eliminating those diseases or maintaining a high steady state of vaccination. Public health efforts to eliminate diseases have so far eliminated only two worldwide, smallpox and rinderpest. The goal of eliminating polio by 2015 has been missed, and it seems unlikely to be eliminated by 2020, although the cases of wild polio have decreased to the low double digits, and elimination still appears to be an achievable near-term goal. All politics is local. --attributed to Tip O'Neill Because the risks of the anti-vaccine movement take place at the level of local communities, schools, preschools, churches, mosques, synagogues, and neighborhoods, it is important that each of us knows how to understand the anti-vaccine movement. We should learn the kinds of arguments it uses and how it spreads in communities and becomes associated with group identity. We should learn how we can individually respond to the doubts or questions of our friends, neighbors, and family members in a way that is compassionate, well informed, and correct. Anti-vaccination activism is a local problem that demands local, personal solutions. Excerpted from Anti-Vaxxers: How to Challenge a Misinformed Movement by Jonathan M. Berman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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