The word “vaccine” derives from the Latin word for cow. The English physician Edward Jenner coined it in his 1798 pamphlet An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae. Its etymology is amazingly apt, because vaccines are the ultimate sacred cow.

Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality tells the story of this technology and the celebrated men who developed it — with successes, but also failures that are never mentioned in the celebratory literature. The authors do not dismiss the concept of vaccination, but seek to promote a more informed and less dogmatic discussion of its risks and benefits.