The influential anti-vaxxer community has created an inescapable narrative around childhood vaccines and the development of autism. Although it first sprung from a fraudulent scientific paper, long since retracted, the story that took hold shows no signs of letting up. The result is that we're already seeing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases around the country. In this book, Peter J. Hotez examines not only the science that shows the anti-vaxxer's concerns are unfounded but also the failure of the scientific community to effectively communicate the facts, leaving the paranoid narrative of the anti-vaxxers to proliferate. Beginning with the many victories of vaccines over disease, through his own experience as a vaccine developer, and ending with a view of what's at stake if vaccines fall further from favor, Hotez draws on his experiences as both the father of an autistic child and a scientist. Along the way he outlines the arguments on both sides, picking them apart to find the truth and showing a path to better scientific communication with the general public.