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The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children's Health
by Adam Ratner MD MPH
A pediatrician and infectious disease specialist warns of the resurgence of measles, the antivaccine movement, and how we can prepare for the next pandemic.
Every single child diagnosed with measles represents a system failure—an inexcusable unforced error. The technology to prevent essentially 100 percent of measles cases has been in our hands since before the moon landing. But this serious airborne disease, once seemingly defeated, is resurgent around the globe. Why, at a time when biomedical science is so advanced, do parents turn away from vaccination, endangering their own children and the health of the wider population?
Using a combination of patient narrative, historical analysis, and scientific research, Dr. Adam Ratner, pediatrician and infectious disease specialist, argues that the reawakening of measles and the subsequent coronavirus pandemic are bellwethers of forgotten knowledge—indicators of decaying trust in science and an underfunded public health infrastructure. Our collective amnesia is starkly revealed in the growth of the antivaccine movement and the missteps in our responses to the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, leading to preventable tragedies in both cases.
Trust in medicine and public health is at a nadir. Declining vaccine confidence threatens a global reemergence of other vaccine-preventable diseases in the coming years. Ratner details how solving these problems requires the use of literal and figurative "booster shots" to gather new knowledge and retain the crucial lessons of the past. Learning—and remembering—these lessons is our best hope for preparing for the next pandemic. With attention and care and the tools we already have, we can make the world much safer for children tomorrow than it is today.
"Ratner provides fascinating scientific insight into measles, explaining how the virus induces a kind of immunological amnesia by targeting immune cells responsible for remembering how to counteract previously encountered viruses, and he makes a strong case that health depends on much more than biology. This will open readers' eyes." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Ratner closes by arguing that good science-based education should be put to work to supplant bad information and bad intentions...An intriguing look at the costs to children's health." —Kirkus Reviews
"Not only have we largely eliminated measles from the United States, we've eliminated the memory of measles. As a result, measles is coming back. Weaving historical events with personal experiences, Dr. Ratner makes us remember, telling us exactly what is at stake if we continue along this path. A fascinating read—Booster Shots is a call to arms in a troubled time." —Paul A. Offit, MD, author of Tell Me When It's Over
"A brilliant book, opening up the secrets of the measles virus to yield revelations about sickness and immunity, science and society, and offering urgent lessons for the world we live in today. Dr. Ratner brings together compelling stories from laboratory science and medical history with experiences from his own pediatric practice caring for children in epidemics from recent measles outbreaks to COVID-19." —Perri Klass, MD, author of The Best Medicine
This information about Booster Shots was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Adam Ratner, MD, MPH, is a professor of pediatrics and microbiology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Hassenfeld Children's Hospital and Bellevue Hospital Center. In addition to practicing medicine, Dr. Ratner directs an active research group and teaches students, residents, and other trainees. He speaks widely in both academic settings and news outlets on topics relevant to vaccination and infections in childhood. His work has appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, PNAS, Pediatrics, and other venues. He edits a major textbook of pediatric infectious diseases, has chaired grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health, and serves on numerous advisory and editorial boards.
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