Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #186 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Sears, coauthor of several books in the Sears Parenting series, addresses one of today's most controversial and worrisome questions. Sears' goal is "to give you a balanced look at pros and cons of vaccination so that you can make an educated decision." Sears does not advocate for or rail against vaccination, stating it doesn't have to be an all or nothing decision-there are choices. The first 12 chapters discuss each vaccination in the childhood series, providing explanation of the relative disease, how the vaccine is made and points to assess a child's at-risk level when considering if the vaccine is necessary. Sears does offer guidance for those who are indecisive, offering his opinion based on clinical experience and 13 years of research taken from product inserts, pediatric reference books, articles and databases. Additional chapters illuminate more controversial aspects of the debate, such as how vaccine safety is researched and what the findings are, side effects and how to minimize them, common myths and questions. As always, Sears' tone puts readers at ease as he clearly explains medical terms and elucidates debates.
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Review
It's the most evenhanded and thorough look at baby immunizations we've yet seen. (Babytalk )

An exhaustively researched guidebook. (Newsday )

About the Author
Robert Sears is a board certified pediatrician in private practice with his father, William Sears. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University and completed his pediatric training at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. He is the co-author of The Baby Book (revised edition), The Premature Baby Book, and The Baby Sleep Book.

Customer Reviews

a good start
This book compiles information that is a good beginning when trying to learn about vaccinations and whether or not they're right for you and your child. Not the difinitive guide though.

Objective information
I must preface this review with the disclosure that I am personally in agreement with much of the information and views presented in the Sears' parenting library. I have been reading this book as I prepare to have my second child vaccinated. I will have my children vaccinated because we travel internationally to the developing world where diseases that are not common in the U.S. are still present, however, I am planning on a modified schedule due to information I am now aware of that contraindicates (in my opinion, based on my research) the CDC schedule. My first child, who is now four years old, was vaccinated using the schedule recommended by the CDC, which I have since come to be somewhat skeptical of. I appreciate the objectivity with with Dr. Sears presents information about the vaccination schedule. Perhaps more importantly I appreciate his objective assessment of the risks involved in vaccinating or not vaccinating for the different diseases. If you are also interested in knowing more about the pros and cons of the myriad vaccinations this is a good resource for your library. Based on additional research I have done on the subject Dr. Sear's book is a valuable resource for your library.

Excellent Source of Balanced Information
I appreciated Dr. Sears' balanced perspective toward vaccines as written in this book. It is thoroughly informative and really presents the various vaccine options clearly and concisely. The author's medical perspective does shine through, as he encourages various vaccinations for the good of the general populace, but it is clear that he is writing the book for individuals who are considering the good of their own children first, and I appreciate that.

I had already been set against vaccines before reading this book, but I carefully reconsidered each option in the reading of the book, and I feel that a person who doesn't know anything about vaccines could pick up this information and choose entirely for or against vaccines or land somewhere in the middle, just based on this book. For that reason and because it has made me feel much more confident in my own decisions, I would recommend this book to any parent or parent-to-be who is interested in getting facts, not propaganda. A lot of vaccines have changed their ingredients in the last ten years, and it is very helpful to have that updated information; mercury, for example, has been all but totally removed. For my own part, I feel that the levels of aluminum in the three shots that I considered are still way too high and not worth the risk when it comes to injecting them into an infant, but I like that someone else could read the book and come to a completely different conclusion.

I notice that of those people who rate this book poorly, the camp seems to be rather evenly divided between those who say Dr. Sears is too pro-vaccine and those who say he is too anti-vaccine. That seems to show that he has done a good job of presenting the case fairly.