Overview
- The concept and practice of vaccination ranks among the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century
- Chapter authors are individuals who are actively or were formerly engaged in vaccine development
- Authors bring a unique perspective and an intimate understanding of vaccine history
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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About this book
Why another book about vaccines? There are already a few extremely well-written medical textbooks that provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art technical reviews regarding vaccine science. Additionally, in the past decade alone, a number of engrossing, provocative books have been published on various related issues ra- ing from vaccines against specific diseases to vaccine safety and policy. Yet there remains a significant gap in the literature – the history of vaccines. Vaccines: A Biography seeks to fill a void in the extant literature by focusing on the history of vaccines and in so doing, recounts the social, cultural, and scientific history of vaccines; it places them within their natural, historical context. The book traces the lineage – the “biography” – of individual vaccines, originating with deeply rooted medical problems and evolving to an eventual conclusion. Nonetheless, these are not “biographies” in the traditional sense; they do not trace an individual’s growth and development. Instead, they follow an idea as it is conceived and dev- oped, through the contributions of many. These are epic stories of discovery, of risk-takers, of individuals advancing medical science, in the words of the famous physical scientist Isaac Newton, “by standing on the shoulders of giants. ” One grant reviewer described the book’s concept as “triumphalist”; although meant as an indictment, this is only partially inaccurate.
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Keywords
Table of contents (22 chapters)
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Front Matter
Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Vaccines: A Biography
Editors: Andrew W. Artenstein
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1108-7
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag New York 2010
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4419-1107-0Published: 17 December 2009
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4899-8362-6Published: 26 November 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4419-1108-7Published: 11 December 2009
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXII, 402
Topics: Microbiology, Immunology, Medical Microbiology, Infectious Diseases, History of Medicine, Popular Science in Medicine and Health