The Panic Virus

A searing account of how vaccine opponents have used the media to spread their message of panic, despite no scientific evidence to support them.

WHO DECIDES WHICH FACTS ARE TRUE? In 1998 Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist with a history of self-promotion, published a paper with a shocking allegation: the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism. The media seized hold of the story and, in the process, helped to launch one of the most devastating health scares ever. In the years to come Wakefield would be revealed as a profiteer in league with class-action lawyers, and he would eventually lose his medical license. Meanwhile one study after another failed to find any link between childhood vaccines and autism. Yet the myth that vaccines somehow cause developmental disorders lives on. Despite the lack of corroborating evidence, it has been popularized by media personalities such as Oprah Winfrey and Jenny McCarthy and legitimized by journalists who claim that they are just being fair to “both sides” of an issue about which there is little debate. Meanwhile millions of dollars have been diverted from potential breakthroughs in autism research, families have spent their savings on ineffective “miracle cures,” and declining vaccination rates have led to outbreaks of deadly illnesses like Hib, measles, and whooping cough. Most tragic of all is the increasing number of children dying from vaccine-preventable diseases. In The Panic Virus Seth Mnookin draws on interviews with parents, public-health advocates, scientists, and anti-vaccine activists to tackle a fundamental question: How do we decide what the truth is? The fascinating answer helps explain everything from the persistence of conspiracy theories about 9/11 to the appeal of talk-show hosts who demand that President Obama “prove” he was born in America. The Panic Virus is a riveting and sometimes heart-breaking medical detective story that explores the limits of rational thought. It is the ultimate cautionary tale for our time.

In 1998 Andrew Wakefield claimed to have found a link between a common childhood vaccine and autism. Wakefield based his findings on a case study of just a dozen children, and his methods and conclusions almost immediately came under fire. Rather than appealing to his colleagues, however, he went to the press, who seized on the story of a maverick doctor standing up to the powerful pharmaceutical industry. Within months, vaccination rates across Europe and America had started to fall, resulting in deaths from diseases previously thought to be disappearing. The panic triggered by Wakefield's study is part of a much bigger story about fear, myth and medicine. Decisions about children's health have always aroused strong passions, but the rise of 'alternative' medicine and the internet have magnified such anxieties. In The Panic Virus, Seth Mnookin takes us inside the anti-vaccination community and the medical establishment. He examines how the anti-vaccination movement spread, and looks at a controversial Australian case that exposed the claims and tactics of the movement to new scrutiny. Sorting fact from rumour, Mnookin confronts difficult questions: with more information at our fingertips than ever, why is our trust in science so fragile? Why did the anti-vaccination movement take hold so quickly? How to balance fact and intuition when it comes to decisions about health? The Panic Virus is an extraordinary and gripping feat of research and reporting. '[A] brilliant...thoroughly researched expose' --Age 'This is the sort of science journalism we need more of' --Australian Seth Mnookin is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and a former senior writer for Newsweek. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, New York magazine and many other publications. He is the author of Feeding the Monster and Hard News. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Antivaxxers are crazy. That is the perception we all gain from the media, the internet, celebrities, and beyond, writes Bernice Hausman in Anti/Vax, but we need to open our eyes and ears so that we can all have a better conversation about vaccine skepticism and its implications. Hausman argues that the heated debate about vaccinations and whether to get them or not is most often fueled by accusations and vilifications rather than careful attention to the real concerns of many Americans. She wants to set the record straight about vaccine skepticism and show how the issues and ideas that motivate it—like suspicion of pharmaceutical companies or the belief that some illness is necessary to good health—are commonplace in our society. Through Anti/Vax, Hausman wants to engage public health officials, the media, and each of us in a public dialogue about the relation of individual bodily autonomy to the state's responsibility to safeguard citizens' health. We need to know more about the position of each side in this important stand-off so that public decisions are made through understanding rather than stereotyped perceptions of scientifically illiterate antivaxxers or faceless bureaucrats. Hausman reveals that vaccine skepticism is, in part, a critique of medicalization and a warning about the dangers of modern medicine rather than a glib and gullible reaction to scaremongering and misunderstanding.

In 1998 Andrew Wakefield claimed to have found a link between a common childhood vaccine and autism. Wakefield based his findings on a case study of just a dozen children, and his methods and conclusions almost immediately came under fire. Rather than appealing to his colleagues, however, he went to the press, who seized on the story of a maverick doctor standing up to the powerful pharmaceutical industry. Within months, vaccination rates across Europe and America had started to fall, resulting in deaths from diseases previously thought to be disappearing. The panic triggered by Wakefields study is part of a much bigger story about fear, myth and medicine. Decisions about childrens health have always aroused strong passions, but the rise of alternative medicine and the internet have magnified such anxieties. In The Panic Virus, Seth Mnookin takes us inside the anti-vaccination community and the medical establishment. He examines how the anti-vaccination movement spread, and looks at a controversial Australian case that exposed the claims and tactics of the movement to new scrutiny. Sorting fact from rumour, Mnookin confronts difficult questions: with more information at our fingertips than ever, why is our trust in science so fragile? Why did the anti-vaccination movement take hold so quickly? How to balance fact and intuition when it comes to decisions about health? The Panic Virus is an extraordinary and gripping feat of research and reporting.

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.

Bizarre illnesses and plagues that kill people in the most unspeakable ways. Obsessive and inspired efforts by scientists to solve mysteries and save lives. From The Hot Zone to The Demon in the Freezer and beyond, Richard Preston’s bestselling works have mesmerized readers everywhere by showing them strange worlds of nature they never dreamed of. Panic in Level 4 is a grand tour through the eerie and unforgettable universe of Richard Preston, filled with incredible characters and mysteries that refuse to leave one’s mind. Here are dramatic true stories from this acclaimed and award-winning author, including: • The phenomenon of “self-cannibals,” who suffer from a rare genetic condition caused by one wrong letter in their DNA that forces them to compulsively chew their own flesh–and why everyone may have a touch of this disease. • The search for the unknown host of Ebola virus, an organism hidden somewhere in African rain forests, where the disease finds its way into the human species, causing outbreaks of unparalleled horror. • The brilliant Russian brothers–“one mathematician divided between two bodies”–who built a supercomputer in their apartment from mail-order parts in an attempt to find hidden order in the number pi (π). In fascinating, intimate, and exhilarating detail, Richard Preston portrays the frightening forces and constructive discoveries that are currently roiling and reordering our world, once again proving himself a master of the nonfiction narrative and, as noted in The Washington Post, “a science writer with an uncommon gift for turning complex biology into riveting page-turners.”

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