The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child

Every Parent Needs to Own a Copy!

Whether you decide to vaccinate your child or not, you should read this book and research what your child is being vaccinated for, what are in those vaccinations and what you can do to prevent any illness or diseased cause by these vaccines. Dr. Sears does an excellent job explaining what each vaccine is for, how many infants/children die from each disease every year, how serious it is, etc. I have read several other vaccine books and nothing comes close to this book. I am always referring to it and I recommend it to all my friends with children.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

informed consent or feel good consent

I am a pediatrician, with subspecialty training in Infectious diease specialty training. I have practiced medicine in many countries. My patients here in the US have brought this book to my attention. I am happy that Dr Spears is addressing concerning issues, but dissapointed that he has not addressed the lack of evidence/research associating aluminium, thimerosal and MMR to developemental diseases. Prevention is our goal. Current evidence based recommendations shows no benefit to seperating out vaccines, if any thing it raises questions of less than adequate medical care/advice. This book feeds into the idea that Docs are not to be trusted, and that a Dr that you have never met knows whats best for your newborn, rather than your trusted Pediatrician.

3 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

The balanced book I was hoping for

I also pre-ordered this book, and eagerly awaited its arrival. I was not disappointed. So much of the vaccine information I have found has been too anti-vaccine or too pro-vaccine, and I was eager to find someone who offered the facts and a more balanced approach to vaccines. Dr. Sears delivered just that. While this book is NOT anti-vaccine, it also doesn't pretend that vaccines are completely harmless and without any side-effects at all, or that all vaccines are appropriate for all children. I think that overall the best effect of this book was to help dispel some of the misinformation about vaccines and I honestly felt confident and ready to make an appropriate, informed decision regarding my child's vaccine schedule after I finished the book. Instead of making the issue more confusing, I felt much better after reading what Dr. Sears has obviously researched quite thoroughly.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Best Vaccine Book

I've read a few books and this one is the most practical, well written and informative book so far. I love the breakdown given to each drug and the pros and cons of it's use. Since we have chosen an alternative vaccination schedule this has really helped me to figure out when to have my children vaccinated for what.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

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. His web site promises online updates to the book as vaccines and data change. There¿s also a forum, blog and other resources.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Highly Recommended

If you are looking into vaccines, I highly recommend the Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. The book is full of important information about the vaccine, how it is made, and what it treats. Not a biased book.

This is the most informative and most unbiased book I have read about vaccines!

This book was recommended to me by my pediatrician and I am very glad she did! I have read several books on this subject and this is the most unbiased and informative. I feel confident and can now make an informed decision about vaccines.

Be an educated parent so you can make the best decisions for your child

A must-read for every parent. If your current pediatrician refuses to acknowledge the information in this book or tries to persuade you by taking advantage of the situation, find another doctor. When you are looking for a pediatrician, call clinics and ask if they have "vaccine-friendly" doctors on staff. Make an appt. to discuss your "options" with someone who will respect you.

A 'must have' for every parent. Provides all the information you need to make an educated decision on your child's vaccination schedule.

Dr Sears provides a very balanced view of vaccinations, their risks and their benefits. His alternative schedule is very well thought out to mimimize the risk while still protecting your child. He also provides all the background information and technical details to justify his proposal and to allow you to create your own alternative schedule. I found this book invaluable in deciding what vaccinations to give and when. Dr Sears was even recommended by my pediatrician when I indicated that I wanted an alternative 'safer' schedule.

Pleasantly Surprised! Great Book!

I read this book in 2 sittings and until I was pregnant I was not much of a reader. I thought the book would be very biased but I was surprised at how informative and non biased it was. It was pretty organized and easy to follow even with a lot of scientific lingo.

Great book for every parent to read and educate themselves on the vaccines they are giving/not giving/delaying for their children. This is a book I will keep on my shelf for future reference and reccomend to friends.

wonderful

Everything you need to know to make informed vaccination decisions, including several alternate schedules.

Great Resource for Parents

I think this book is a must-read for any parent. Usually when you tell people you're reading a book because you want to know more about vaccines, they think you're some kind of nut who doesn't want to vaccinate your child. The approach of this book, however, is to inform parents so that they can make educated decisions about which vaccines to give their children, when to give them, and what the ingredients and potential side effects are of each vaccine. We had some concerns about the effects of aluminum toxicity and this book was very helpful in explaining which vaccines contain aluminum and what can be done to minimize the possibility of toxic aluminum buildup. After reading this book, we developed a vaccination schedule for our daughter that includes all of the vaccines, but spaces them in a way that minimizes potential health risks. Even if you aren't interested in altering the vaccination schedule for your child, the book includes helpful information about typical and atypical side effects that help parents know what to expect when their children are vaccinated.

Fantastic, well-researched, and well-reasoned resource

I've never written a book review before but this one deserves all 5 stars. It lays out the vaccine controversy without bias and bases the recommendations on science, not hype or internet-fueled rumor. I feel so lucky that this was published just a few months after my first son was born. Everything else I've read was so confusing and full of pro- or anti-vaccine propaganda. This book really gave me the information to make my own decision. Thank you Dr. Sears!

Most informative non biased material on VACCINES today

This book has so much information on vaccines that it is a must for parents, especially first timers.
I bought it for my niece who is a first time Mom and she and her husband are questioning the use of vaccines and the current high numbers recommended.
I devoured it once I started reading it and underlined and highlighted the pages until it was almost dog eared. I did send it on for my niece and they had originally chosen NOT to vaccinate their baby, and this book truly confirmed their decision. I followed up by reading Jenny McCarthy's book on Mother Warriors. Also a MUST READ for anyone concerned about the Autism issue and the connection to the use of vaccines.

Good book!

I just bought this book today and started reading it. WOW! This book has great information. After reading about 5 chapters, I e-mailed all my friends who are mom's or mom's to be and told them about this book. One friend told me they got the book about 2 days ago and they had the same thoughts of me as WOW! She said she recommends this book as well.

Everything you need to know in 1 book

This book was great! I'm a first time mom expecting in a few weeks and needed to do some quick research on vaccines. I was afraid of running into a lot of bias on the internet, which is why I purchased The Vaccine Book. Dr. Sears does a wonderful job at providing all the information on vaccines and diseases and letting you decide what is best for your child.

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