... devotes attention to prominent anti-vaccine activists and their claims — as well as their proposed modifications to the schedule of childhood shots and their promotion of an array of unproven alternative remedies for boosting the immune system. These chapters are packed with more scientific detail than some readers may want, although they make the book a useful reference. More enlightening and practical, at least for everyday life, is Berman’s advice on how to talk with people who are uncertain about vaccinating their children.
... clear and insightful ... while the pandemic is addressed in a short preface, it is an imperfect guide to today’s challenge. And yet, its arrival is opportune and the deeper questions it explores are informative ... most practical when Berman lays out the strategies that have failed or worked to win over vaccine critics ... Berman succeeds in taking a thorough medical history and diagnosing the problem — but he does not offer a convincing cure ... The book is at once timely and not timely enough. For example, it characterises anti-vaxxers as mostly 'crunchy' parents, hippies at home with homeopathy. It only briefly mentions a 2018 survey that showed a new correlation between rightwing ideologies and anti-vaccine sentiment on display in recent protests ... should be a call to arms for each of us to persuade others to take a vaccine, if it is proven safe and effective. Without such a crowdsourced approach, we will not have the time to win people over.
Recommended for those countering the anti-vaccination movement, as well as those with an interest in cultural and historical antecedents of the movement.
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.
