WHY WE NEED VACCINES

The story of vaccines and why it’s vital to get them.

In her introduction, Rae notes that she was motivated by a desire to understand not only how vaccines have been developed and tested, but also the reasons why people refuse to get them. She briefly covers philosophical and religious motivations for not getting vaccinated, and while she acknowledges that vaccines sometimes have unexpected side effects, she stresses that they are extremely rare. Retracing well-traveled territory, particularly since the onset of Covid-19, Rae offers young audiences a detailed but standard-issue account of the historical development of biological counters to diseases and epidemics from smallpox and polio to recent advances against malaria. Throughout, she makes equally familiar appeals to logic based on comparative death-rate statistics and like scientific studies. Along with nods to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Louis Pasteur, and other notable figures of the past, she briefly profiles a dozen racially diverse modern medical workers and researchers. Before closing by urging readers to become “vaccine ambassadors,” she also discusses basic ways to identify misinformation and disinformation on the web and elsewhere. Dark-skinned figures are generously represented in the mix of children and scientists who appear in the paintings and photos.

Injects a little fresh content but likely to be lost in the crowd.