Mother Ignores Court Order to Vaccinate Child and Lands in Jail

After a divorced mother took a stand against vaccinating her child on religious reasons, a judge sided with the father who wanted to protect his child from serious illness by getting the shots ("The Mother Jailed for Refusing to Vaccinate Her Son Says She Would 'Do It All Over Again,'" Washington Post, October 13, 2017). Now the child has been vaccinated while in the temporary custody of the father. While most states give parents the option to not vaccinate a child for religious reasons, this case (and coincidentally, another current case in the same judge's court) focuses on the father's right to decide on his child's care.

Review selected hard copy/online library books related to vaccinations at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Place Hold" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to request for pick up at the library.

Use these subject words and phrases to find more information in the library catalog:

• immunization
• vaccination
• vaccines

The Vaccine Race: Science, Politics, and the Human Costs of Defeating Disease by Meredith Wadman
Viking, 2017
call number: 614.523 Wad

"The epic and controversial story of a major breakthrough in cell biology that led to the conquest of rubella and other devastating diseases. Until the late 1960s, tens of thousands of American children suffered crippling birth defects if their mothers had been exposed to rubella, popularly known as German measles, while pregnant; there was no vaccine and little understanding of how the disease devastated fetuses. In June 1962, a young biologist in Philadelphia, using tissue extracted from an aborted fetus from Sweden, produced safe, clean cells that allowed the creation of vaccines against rubella and other common childhood diseases. Two years later, in the midst of a devastating German measles epidemic, his colleague developed the vaccine that would one day wipe out homegrown rubella. The rubella vaccine and others made with those fetal cells have protected more than 150 million people in the United States, the vast majority of them preschoolers. The new cells and the method of making them also led to vaccines that have protected billions of people around the world from polio, rabies, chicken pox, measles, hepatitis A, shingles and adenovirus." - publisher's summary excerpt

Deadliest Enemy: Our War against Killer Germs by Michael T. Osterholm and Mark Olshaker

Little, Brown, 2017
call number: 614.4 Ost

"Drawing on the latest medical science, case studies, policy research, and hard-earned epidemiological lessons, Deadliest Enemy explores the resources and programs we need to develop if we are to keep ourselves safe from infectious disease. " - publisher's summary excerpt

Vaccination and Its Critics: A Documentary and Reference Guide by Lisa Rosner
ABC-CLIO, 2017
call number: on order

"This authoritative and unbiased narrative--supported by 50 primary source documents--follows the history of vaccination, highlighting essential medical achievements and ongoing controversies." - publisher's summary excerpt

Calling the Shots: Why Parents Reject Vaccines by Jennifer A. Reich

NYU Press, 2016
call number: 614.47 Rei

"A rich, multi-faceted examination into the attitudes and beliefs of parents who choose not to immunize their children . . . Calling the Shots offers a unique opportunity to understand the points of disagreement on what is best for children, communities, and public health, and the ways in which we can bridge these differences." - publisher's summary excerpt