An even-handed book that is really helpful

I ordered this book from Amazon.com after reading about it on the Dr. Sears website. I would not say I am a Dr. Sears "groupie" and am not familiar with other books in the series, but I had been referring to the "Ask Dr. Sears" website from time to time for advice on basic new-parent questions.

I am a skeptic generally, and tend to have a middle-of-the-road view when it comes to allopathic versus naturopathic medical strategies, so I have looked into many books on the topic of vaccinating children. Because Dr. Sears is a western-trained physician, I expected his viewpoint to be biased toward the status-quo. However, I was extremely impressed by this book and now consider it "The Source" for information on this topic when it comes to my own child.

First, the book is extremely well-organized. Each vaccination is the topic of a chapter, and the beginning of each chapter includes the chart of recommended vaccinations by age. For each vaccination, the same topics are discussed, such as which ailment the vaccine tries to prevent, what the risk is that your child will be exposed to the germ and what the likely outcomes are for an unvaccinated person, which ingredients are contained in the vaccines (with brand names, so you can ask your physician for a specific variety), the effectiveness of the vaccine, side-effects of the vaccine and so on. Each chapter concludes with the doctor's own view on whether the vaccine is a "must" or not-so-much.

My favorite thing about the book besides the quality of the information and the organization is how Dr. Sears doesn't hide his biases. Because he writes openly about his personal viewpoints, instead of attempting to mask them as "objective," I feel that I can accept the material as factual and use it as a basis for making my own decisions.

Dr. Sears knew what information a parent would want to know in making vaccination decisions, and had the resources to come up with answers that my pediatrician doesn't have time to research. The discussion on aluminum and his alternative vaccination schedule are also very informative and helpful.