As a research scientist with 30 years of medical research behind me, including 10 years in biotechnology and vaccine development, I had never questioned the basic assumptions regarding vaccination. Scheiber's book on vaccine research has completely changed my views on the safety and efficacy of vaccination. She cites study after study, such as the 1950's studies with polio vaccine which involved nearly 2 million children, which conclusively showed at the time that the utility of polio vaccination is zero. Well, I thought as I read on, at least the smallpox vaccine wiped out smallpox. Wrong! It was also exhaustively compared with non-vaccination and found to have no benefit. In fact, the vaccine has no effect on smallpox infection except to predispose the vaccinee to infection. I had no idea. I am still in a state of shock. Hasn't anyone at the Centers for Disease Control looked at the data? Why such a practice is still continued in the face of all this evidence is beyond my comprehension. Needless to say, my research interests are no longer directed toward vaccination but rather toward something more useful and productive. This book is an excellent summary of the history of vaccination with numerous references at the end of each chapter. It has some typos which confuse the reader on occasion but the content is well worth the time it takes to read this excellent book. This book is an eye opener!