Do you have questions about vaccinations? Many people do!

We know many of you visit the Free Library (in person and online) searching for health information. A new series of blog posts will share ways you can access our materials and services and focus on key health topics concerning Philadelphians. This post concerns vaccinations...

Information about vaccines and vaccinations is often in the news, and it is often contradictory and confusing:

• On September 14, the New York Times published an article entitled “732,000: American Lives Saved by Vaccination” that discussed a CDC newsletter reporting that vaccination of children over two decades, starting in 1994, will prevent 732,000 early deaths.

• On August 28, the CDC advised that “a recent analysis concluded that routine childhood vaccination will prevent 322 million cases of disease and about 732,000 early deaths among children born during 1994–2013, for a net societal cost savings of $1.38 trillion.”

• On the other hand, on December 24, the New York Times published “Childhood: Rich, White and Refusing Vaccines,” which cited an article published in the January 2016 issue of the American Journal of Public Health that describes the socioeconomic groups most likely to defer vaccinations for their children on the basis of personal belief.

Do you want to learn more about vaccines and vaccination, and the issues (pro and con) surrounding them? The Free Library of Philadelphia has resources to inform you!

See these recent books in our catalog:

• Vaccine Nation: America's Changing Relationship with Immunization by Elena Conis
• Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All by Paul A. Offit
• Vaccine War (DVD)
• Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child by Robert Sears, M.D.
• Everything Parent's Guide to Vaccines: Balanced, Professional Advice to Help You Make the Best Decision for Your Child by Leslie Young, M.D.
• On Immunity: an Inoculation by Eula Bliss
• End of Plagues: The Global Battle Against Infectious Disease by John Rhoades
• Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear by Seth Mnookin
• Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children, Revised and Expanded Edition by Louise Kuo Habakus

You can also learn more about the various perspectives surrounding vaccines and vaccination by visiting our Opposing Viewpoints in Context database and typing in vaccines.