Political science

I blindly hand my daughter over to Dr. Awesome every 8 weeks to jab needles into her fat thighs. They hand us a binder explaining all the vaccines, and take great care explaining everything to us. I don't know why I trust them to inject her with strange substances but I definitely trust them more than my quirky chiropractor who tried to talk me out of a flu shot last winter. But after her last round when she had swollen legs for days and was fussier than usual, part of me had to wonder...

I recently read the book Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases cover to cover. The book is primarily about Maurice Hillmen. You have probably never heard of him. Neither had I. But his work on developing new vaccines has saved thousands if not millions of lives. And to read about how he went about these scientific discoveries was pretty fascinating.

I'll admit, I have an interest in all things medical. I once took "mini-medical school" at Georgetown. Twice. Despite my secret obession, it still wasn't so appetizing how vaccines were developed - severed heads of chicken embryos, anyone? - though it was a necessary part of the story.

I learned tons of fascinating facts. In the 1950s there were only four vaccines at a cost of about $4. We now have sixteen vaccines, some requiring multiple shots, at the cost of over $1000. In the 1990s, President Clinton realized the cost of vaccinating children was out of reach of many parents and created the Federal Vaccines for Children program, which raised immunization rates from 70 to 90+%. The program has been cut back recently - shocking, I know. Other forces also put vaccines at risk. Better luck in 2008, poor kids.

After reading this book, I'm even more convinced of the necessity of vaccinating all children, especially my own. It was written by one of the creators of the Rotavirus vaccine, so part of me thinks "consider the source" but the other part of me knows that rotavirus alone kills thousands of kids a day around the world. According to the CDC, before the rotavirus vaccine came out, nearly every child had an episode of rotavirus by the age of 5. Rotavirus can cause severe dehyradation resulting in hospitalization or even death.

There are a lot of opinions to consider in this debate. However, the chapter discussing how the whole autism/thimerosol link got started will most likely leave you on my side of the fence. What it comes down to is when you compare vaccinated children with those that have not been vaccinated, the incidents of autism are exactly the same. This chapter alone made it worth reading the book. The rest was just fascinating facts I plan to unleash on you at the next cocktail party or family outing we both attend.

You want to stick that where??