Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and The Forgotten History

Firstly establishing the historical record of abysmal sanitation and living conditions at the turn of the century, and secondly reviewing the mortality data from infectious disease in the public record, Dr Suzanne Humphries makes a compelling argument that infectious disease was conquered by improved sanitation and nutrition, and not by vaccination programs which were either ineffective or actually increased the mortality.

In three detailed chapters, we find out how even Edward Jenner’s famous cow-pox virus vaccine in 1798 was never compared by any large intervention trials, and the sources of its principal viral components were almost completely uncontrolled from batch to batch. Instead of protecting the public by imposing standards on vaccine manufacture, the British government imposed increasingly stringent penalties on parents for failure to vaccinate their children, imprisoning parents who refused to pay large fines for noncompliance.

If you have any interest in the vaccination debate – whether pro- or anti- – we strongly recommend that you invest in it immediately. The reason for our enthusiasm is likewise straightforward. Through painstaking research, the authors have unearthed vital, often long-forgotten data that offers vital answers as to whether vaccines are, or have ever been, “One of the greatest achievements of biomedical science and public health”.