Is Dr sears book "The vaccine book" good or useful?

Question

Because I haven't decided if I want to vaccinate my son or not and I want to know if I should buy this book and is it good?

Answer 1

The reason we now have children dying form diseases that are preventable is because people like yourself are not vaccinating their children.  When you decide not to vaccinate, you're not only putting your own child at risk, but other children (who might have compromised immune systems) at risk as well.  It's selfish and reckless.  

There is no proven link between vaccines and autism.

McMom:  The reason he suggests avoiding church, daycare, malls...etc is to prevent exposure to possible illnesses.  You have a choice, vaccinate and live a normal life or do not vaccinate and TRY to protect your child by avoiding exposure.  Again, you're also putting other children at risk if your children aren't vaccinated.

Answer 2

i can understand your concern with vaccinating ....but its really good..esp cause young babies are sooo acceptable to sickness... I would actually recommend coing to the cdc.com it will tell u everything u need to know about vaccines and the risk of not vacinating and the side effects.

Answer 3

Gah, no - not in my opinion.

I was told many times over that it is a completely unbiased book that is helpful for dishing out facts and advice - not opinions or judgment.

That is not the case.

It is very pro-vaccinations and he even has a very condescending tone towards parents who don't vaccinate.

He constantly contradicts himself - he can't seem to make up his mind on where he stands, yet then at some points in the books makes quite offensive remarks to non vaccinating parents.

At one point he go's as far as to tell parents who don't vaccinate  to keep it a secret.

He says that if you don't vaccinate, then you must avoid church, day cares, gyms, playgroups etc -for at least 2 years.  You should only expose your child to very small playgroups and only if no one is sick.  So if you have multiple children, then I guess you will have to hide in your house for quite a few years, come on.

Not only that but some of the "facts" that he presents that you can clearly see he has not backed up - have been disputed, and found to be untrue - he forgets to lists many an ingredient and presents a lot of false statistics.

I was hugely disappointed with his book - I expected more.

What I do recommend is The Vaccine Safety Manual by Neil Z Miller - it is just simple facts - no opinion - all information in it has been backed up - you can trust it.

Answer 4

After reading the reviews on that book, I decided to go with another "How to Raise a Healthy Child In Spite of Your Doctor" by Robert Mendelsohn M.D.

I liked the fact that he gave references for his opinions, and his personal experience as a pediatrician for over 20 years.

Some of the info could be updated, but it's a good book to get a general idea of what you should know about your childs medical needs (should you vaccinate, when is it good to seek a doctor's advice, what items are poisonous to a child and what to do in the vent of contact with one of those chemicals, etc.)

http://www.amazon.com/Raise-Healthy-Chil...

By the way, to the other contributors who state that it is a danger to others to not vaccinate thier child has not had the unfortunate experience of seeing your 2 month old child react poorly to her vaccinations and become a zombie for two weeks.  Our daughter had her 2 month vaccines and will never again have an agivented vaccine (those are vaccines which contain a metal such as aluminum to stimulate the body's immune system).  She's not in daycare and will have no need to vaccinate until she is school age (5 years old).  For a child that does not get exposed to many children through daycare and such, there is no reason to not wait until age 5.  At that age they are able to communicate and tell you if something is wrong.  If we all waited until 5 years of age (again, for those kids not in daycare) we'd be just as well off as far as keeping the number of preventable diseases low.  There is a way to do this without putting all the responsibility onto a 2 MONTH OLD baby.  How ignorant it is to think that a baby that young would have an immune system developed enough to handle such a thing as a course of 7 viruses at the same time (yes, that's how many they will be exposed to when they get the CDC's recommended dose of vaccines).

Answer 5

i have it and i think it's great.  it gives an alternate vaccine schedule and he explains what is in every vaccine and talks about the diseases and how common they are.

but if you are looking for someone to tell you it is okay not to vaccinate, he is not going to say that (and i don't think he should being that he is a responsible MD).

he gives information about vaccines.

he thinks it is better to do an alternative vaccine schedule than not vaccinate, which i happen to agree with.

edit: i usually don't even care about thumbs down but i find it unbelievable that 6 people who gave thumbs down think it's okay to not vaccinate your child.  it not only affects your child but other people's children and those with weakened immune systems.  that is really scary...