Main description:

Why are growing numbers of parents worldwide questioning the wisdom of having their children vaccinated? Why have public-sector vaccine producers been sold off? And can we trust the multinational corporations that increasingly dominate vaccine development and production? In this hard-hitting book, now available in B-format paperback, Stuart Blume argues that globalization and healthcare deficiencies are eroding faith in the institutions producing and providing vaccines. He tells the history of immunization practices, from the work of early pioneers such as Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch to the establishment of the World Health Organization and the introduction of genetic engineering.
Immunization exposes the limits of public health authorities while suggesting how they can restore our confidence. Public health experts and all those considering vaccinations should read this timely history.

Contents:

Preface
1. What do Vaccines do?
2. Technologies: The First Vaccines
3. Technologies: Viral Challenges
4. Technologies: The Commodification of Vaccines
5. Policies: Hesitant Beginnings
6. Policies: Vaccination and the Cold War
7. Policies: Vaccination in a Globalizing World
8. The Roots of Doubt
References
Additional Reading
Acknowledgements
Index