Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD is the Texas Children's Hospital Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics and codirector of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine. In 2015 he was selected as a US Science Envoy for the State Department and the White House. He is the author of Blue Marble Health: An Innovative Plan to Fight Diseases of the Poor amid Wealth and Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science.
The book blends the history of vaccination and the anti-vaccine movement with Hotez's personal history as an autism dad and vaccine scientist. Together, the narratives make a compelling argument for why vaccines are one of the most important tools humans have in our battle against disease-and why the turn against these life-saving shots by some requires our urgent attention. * Vox * Dr. Hotez has opened his heart and mind on the pages of this important book, which reads like a psychological autopsy of a family living and struggling with debilitating illness. It is highly recommended. * The ASCO Post * Without a shadow of doubt, [this book is] one of Dr. Hotez's most important contributions to humanity. Through its pages, Dr. Hotez wages the largest of battles: the battle against ignorance and indolence, choosing to take a step forward against the powerful and well-installed anti-vaccine movement. Dr. Hotez wrote this book as a vaccine against public skepticism by using veracity and facts. He renewed faith in the medical practice of immunization. * Bulletin of the National Academy of Medicine - Venezuela * Dr. Hotez's third published book combines the deeply personal story of his experiences as the father of a child with autism and his equally intimate and detailed knowledge of both vaccine science and what's now known about what does (and does not) cause autism. As a scientist whose research focuses on developing vaccines against an array of devastating tropical diseases that overwhelmingly affect the world's poor, and as one both capable and willing to inform others in terms understandable to the general public, his viewpoint is by equal degrees credible and vitally important. This is a well-reasoned and reasonable book; a well-structured and convincing defense of true science in the age of fake news and rampant pseudoscience. * JIMLEEAUTHOR Blog * A tour de force in the field. I have read many books on vaccines and vaccine policies and this one stands out among all of them. Perhaps it is the way Dr. Hotez seamlessly weaves in his and his family's experiences with Rachel's autism. He covers the diagnosis, the daily trials and tribulations, the frustrations, and the successes. I can't recommend this book enough and hope it has a wide audience of physicians, parents, students, and policy makers. * Tracking Zebra * Peter Hotez has two words for his fellow scientists: Speak up. [Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism] seeks to clear some people's muddied perspectives on autism and vaccines while also sharing his journey with his daughter Rachel. * Global Health NOW * Hotez isn't pulling any punches. * Foreword Reviews * In the era of 'fake news,' we need to encourage Hotez's kind of scientific engagement. Scientists are not part of our national discourse on many issues, even on issues directly relating to their expertise. That needs to change. Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism is Hotez's shot across the bow, directly aimed at the non-scientific public. Hopefully, it's a shot that will be heard around the world. * Spectator USA * Hotez's book stands tall not just because he has explained in great detail the humbling efforts of scientists like himself in developing vaccines and immunisation schedules and their intellectual mythbusting efforts after the Wakefield controversy. The reason why Hotez's book is special is that he has gone the extra mile to scientifically understand and tell the world in direct and simple words repeatedly that his daughter's autism has nothing to do with vaccines. * The Lancet * Recommended for popular science readers looking to refute the anti-vaccination debate as well as readers interested in children's public health. * Library Journal *