Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality tells the story of this technology and the celebrated men who developed it with some success, but also with failures that are never mentioned in the celebratory literature on vaccines. Vaccine advocates often proclaim that they “follow the science,” but most vaccine development has been a matter of guesses, gambles, and wild experimentation. Its key figures have been biased by religious faith, wishful thinking, ideology, and a desire for recognition and money. Though credit is due to some vaccines for reducing infectious disease morbidity and mortality, their contribution to public health in developed nations has been grossly exaggerated by propagandists. Dramatic improvements in nutrition and sanitation were the primary drivers of this trend. The authors do not dismiss the concept of vaccination but seek to promote a more informed and less dogmatic discussion about its risks and benefits. Critical evaluation can only make the technology safer and more effective. Review: “Dr. Peter McCullough and John Leake have done the near-impossible: cutting through the noise and contemporary dramas around the issues of vaccines, they have produced a page-turning history and a gripping analysis of vaccines as myth and social ideology. This astute combination of intellectual and medical history, cultural analysis, and hard-hitting medical and scientific exposition could not have been accomplished by any other team. Vaccines will change the way you think about medical history, and how the collective mind, shaped by powerful interests, may propagate illusions out of thin air. This is an essential book for navigating our frenzied times with knowledge and insight, and it is one that will outlast us-a beautifully written classic of medical history and the history of ideas.”
