The compelling story of vaccination. We may fear terrorist attacks,
but in truth humans have always had far more to fear from
infections. In 1919, Spanish flu killed over 50 million people,
more than died in both world wars combined. In 1950, an estimated
50 million people caught smallpox worldwide, of whom 10 million
died. In 1980, before measles vaccine was widely used, an estimated
2.6 million children died of measles every year. Today we are
hostage to a new pandemic disease -the seemingly unstoppable
COVID-19. Less than 100 years ago, losing a child to an infection
like diphtheria or polio was a dreaded but almost inevitable sorrow
faced by all parents, from the richest to the poorest. Today, these
killer diseases are almost never seen in industrialised countries,
thanks to the development of vaccines. Immunisation has given
modern parents peace of mind their ancestors could not imagine. The
history of vaccination is rich with trial, error, sabotage and
success. It encompasses the tragedy of lives lost, the drama of
competition and discovery, the culpability of botched testing, and
the triumph of effective, lifelong immunity. Yet with the
eradication in the first world of some of humanity's deadliest
foes, complacency in some quarters has set in. COVID-19 has us
again racing for a vaccine. The story of past achievements and
failures helps us keep the race - and the hope - in perspective.
This is a book for everyone who wants to understand our past - and
cares about our future. PRAISE 'Anyone who has doubts about the
life-saving miracle of vaccination should read this' Steven
Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald 'An entertaining and engaging work
that is sure to delight general readers' Australian Book Review
'The ideal handbook for pregnant women, parents, travellers,
childcare and aged-care workers, GPs and anyone with an interest in
public health' The Australian 'Isaacs explores the understanding of
immunity as it develops from the fifth century BC to the present
day and thrills us with the progressive successes of each of the 14
vaccines which a child routinely receives today ... The work is
authoritative, beguiling, amusing, instructive and inspirational.
It deserves a wide readership, including infectious disease
experts, other health professionals and, most assuredly, a
diversity of lay people' Sir Gustav Nossal, immunologist and
director of The Walter and Eliza Institute of Medical Research,
Melbourne, 1965-1996 'A rollicking story of human endeavour, error,
misinformation, success and failure ... and more than a glimpse of
why we need to continue to research, evaluate, educate and fund
vaccines to prevent disease' Fiona Stanley, Distinguished Research
Professor, University of Western Australia 'Effortlessly
accessible, Defeating the Ministers of Death brilliantly reveals
the people behind the most important public health intervention in
history' Professor Andrew J Pollard, Department of Paediatrics,
University of Oxford 'This book is an unflinching look at the
triumphs and inevitable tragedies in the war against infectious
diseases. Nonfiction is at its best when it reads like fiction. And
David Isaacs has written a page turner' Paul A. Offit, MD, author
of Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists
Aren't Your Best Source of Health Information
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