Vaccinations: From Smallpox to Cancer (Single Title: Science: Health and Human Disease)

An overview of vaccinations, explaining some basic terms, their development, with an emphasis on smallpox and polio vaccines, their current and future use, controversies concerning their use, and possible negative effects.

Gr. 6-12. In this easy-to-read, sometimes alarming work, the prolific authors offer a solid text that will help students interested in everything from health and medicine to history to international travel. Tracing the history of epidemics from ancient times, they describe the symptoms of a variety of diseases, driving home their points with a number of dire (though not sensationalistic) examples of patients who have suffered stark, sometimes fatal bouts of the illness. Through detailed scientific descriptions, they explain how diseases attack humans and how vaccines arm the immune system. They use solid data to argue meaningfully for the need of vaccinations, also acknowledging parents' fear of dangerous side effects for children. The black-and-white photos support the information well; detailed endnotes and contact sites are appended. Roger Leslie
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved