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Anti-vaxxers : how to challenge a misinformed movement / Jonathan M. Berman.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2020]Copyright date: ©2020Description: xviii, 277 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 21 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780262539326
  • 0262539322
Other title:
  • How to challenge a misinformed movement
Subject(s):
Contents:
Is there even a problem? -- Understanding vaccines -- The world before vaccines -- The first vaccine -- The first anti-vaccine movements -- Vaccine pioneers -- 20th century anti-vaccine movements Autism -- The anti-vaccine movement 1998-present -- Vaxxed -- Too many too soon -- Deadly immunity -- Ineffective "alternatives" to vaccination -- Social media, "fake news," and the spread of information -- Escalation of commitment -- Religion and vaccine hesitancy -- Big pharma -- Anti-vaccine activism in 2018 and 2019 -- Vaccine advocates -- Who are they? -- The anti-vaccine parent -- What changes minds about vaccines?
Summary: Vaccines are a documented success story, one of the most successful public health interventions in history. Yet there is a vocal anti-vaccination movement and the propagation of anti-vax claims through books, documentaries, and social media. In Anti-vaxxers, Jonathan Berman explores the phenomenon of the anti-vaccination movement, recounting its history from its nineteenth-century antecedents to today's activism, examining its claims, and suggesting a strategy for countering them. -- adapted from back coverSummary: "A presentation of the scientific argument in favor of vaccination, which probes the consequences, origins and impact of the anti-vaccination movement"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 614.47 B516 Available 33111010438337
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A "clear and insightful" takedown of the anti-vaccination movement, from its 19th-century antecedents to modern-day Facebook activists-with strategies for refuting false claims of friends and family ( Financial Times )

Vaccines are a documented success story, one of the most successful public health interventions in history. Yet there is a vocal anti-vaccination movement, featuring celebrity activists (including Kennedy scion Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and actress Jenny McCarthy) and the propagation of anti-vax claims through books, documentaries, and social media. In Anti-Vaxxers , Jonathan Berman explores the phenomenon of the anti-vaccination movement, recounting its history from its nineteenth-century antecedents to today's activism, examining its claims, and suggesting a strategy for countering them.

After providing background information on vaccines and how they work, Berman describes resistance to Britain's Vaccination Act of 1853, showing that the arguments anticipate those made by today's anti-vaxxers. He discusses the development of new vaccines in the twentieth century, including those protecting against polio and MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), and the debunked paper that linked the MMR vaccine to autism; the CDC conspiracy theory promoted in the documentary Vaxxed ; recommendations for an alternative vaccination schedule; Kennedy's misinformed campaign against thimerosal; and the much-abused religious exemption to vaccination.

Anti-vaxxers have changed their minds, but rarely because someone has given them a list of facts. Berman argues that anti-vaccination activism is tied closely to how people see themselves as parents and community members. Effective pro-vaccination efforts should emphasize these cultural aspects rather than battling social media posts.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Vaccines are a documented success story, one of the most successful public health interventions in history. Yet there is a vocal anti-vaccination movement and the propagation of anti-vax claims through books, documentaries, and social media. In Anti-vaxxers, Jonathan Berman explores the phenomenon of the anti-vaccination movement, recounting its history from its nineteenth-century antecedents to today's activism, examining its claims, and suggesting a strategy for countering them. -- adapted from back cover

Is there even a problem? -- Understanding vaccines -- The world before vaccines -- The first vaccine -- The first anti-vaccine movements -- Vaccine pioneers -- 20th century anti-vaccine movements Autism -- The anti-vaccine movement 1998-present -- Vaxxed -- Too many too soon -- Deadly immunity -- Ineffective "alternatives" to vaccination -- Social media, "fake news," and the spread of information -- Escalation of commitment -- Religion and vaccine hesitancy -- Big pharma -- Anti-vaccine activism in 2018 and 2019 -- Vaccine advocates -- Who are they? -- The anti-vaccine parent -- What changes minds about vaccines?

"A presentation of the scientific argument in favor of vaccination, which probes the consequences, origins and impact of the anti-vaccination movement"-- Provided by publisher.

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