Catherine Diodati

Immunization: History, Ethics, Law and Health by Catherine Diodati ISBN 0968508006

Immunization: History, Ethics, Law and Health runs 312 pages and is fully documented with over 350 resources. Information has been derived from medical journals, law journals and case studies, international health officials, interviews with medical professionals and families regarding their experiences. Statistics are considered from a global perspective - and underlying factors that affect interpretation have been uncovered. The book has a bioethical theme, which has been largely neglected when it comes to vaccination and a lot of attention is payed to patient rights.

Briefly, the book contains:

- the history of vaccine development
- "herd immunity" as the rationale behind mass vaccination and where this fails
- the differences between "routine" and "mass" immunization...which are not so different after close examination
- an illustrated tour of the immune system
- how artificial immunity is meant to imitate natural immunity and where it fails
- how vaccines are made
- vaccine components (viruses, bacteria, toxins, chemicals and host tissues) and their known hazards are explained
- vaccine efficacy - how statistics are used to support vaccine efficacy and hidden variables which call efficacy into question
- informed and voluntary consent from ethical and legal perspectives
- adverse event reporting and compensation for vaccine-injuries
- new vaccines under development (e.g. contraceptive, edible, HIV and cancer
vaccines)
- immunization tracking systems/registries and smart cards and their effect on privacy
- military vaccines (including Gulf War Syndrome and the anthrax vaccine)

There are also a number of vaccine awareness groups listed in the appendices.

The cost of the book is $34.98 (Canadian) plus shipping (and GST in Canada only). Shipping prices vary for Canadian orders and these can be provided on an individual basis if people would like to contact me (for example, in Ontario the price would be $3.21 and other areas of Canada could be $5.50). US surface mail for 1 book would be $6.80 ($9.05 for air mail). International orders, for 1 book, would be $7.60 surface (or $17.00 air mail). All price are in Canadian funds - the Canadian dollar is pretty low right now so it is advantageous for people to make payments in Canadian funds.

Payment can be made by cheque (North America only), money order (if outside of Canada be sure to request an international money order), MasterCard or VISA (include expiry date - best to mail or fax this information as email is not secure enough to send such sensitive information). The book can be ordered from:

Integral Aspects Incorporated
5060 Tecumseh Road East, Suite 439
Windsor, Ontario N8T 1C1 Canada
Tel. (519) 972-9567
Fax (519) 948-6861
email: diodati@mnsi.net

[Polio] "Paralytic cases were not distinguished from non-paralytic cases until a recommendation was made by the Dominion Council of Health in 1949- The LCDC figures provided from 1952 and onward represent this administrative change: recording only those cases adhering to the requirements for a diagnosis of paralytic poliomyelitis. In a report released in June of 1959, another administrative change was recommended by the Dominion Council of Health, further altering the way in which apparent cases of poliomyelitis would be reported. All non-paralytic cases of poliomyelitis were to be henceforth recorded as "meningitis, viral or aseptic," a disease which itself only became reportable in 1952." These two administrative changes effectively reduced the apparent incidence of poliomyelitis. In particular, since the latter change is temporally correlative to the introduction of the polio vaccines, the vaccines appear to have been responsible for a reduction in poliomyelitis cases when it is entirely possible that the administrative changes are primarily responsible."--Catherine Diodati MA (Immunization History, Ethics, Law and Health p116)