This is a passionate book, on a subject that deservedly raises passions. Lethal epidemics of smallpox, polio, measles, pertussis and COVID-19 have been parallelled by memetic epidemics of anti-vaccine scare-mongering. Thomas Levenson documents the history, from honestly mistaken sceptics of previous centuries (Alfred Russell Wallace, Herbert Spencer) to today's villains (Andrew Wakefield, Donald Trump) and charlatans (Robert Kennedy Jr). At a time when vaccine science should be celebrating its greatest triumphs, this book could hardly be more important.

Richard Dawkins FRS, author of The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker

Brimming with righteous anger, this book should infuriate you for all the right reasons, and arm you to take on the grifters and their war against science.

Adam Rutherford, author of How to Argue with a Racist

This highly readable account of how vaccines have saved millions of lives is a call to arms for anyone who cares about the future of vaccine confidence.

Meredith Wadman

Levenson serves up this powerful, timely and important book about a technology that has extended and saved hundreds of millions of lives, and the incredible story of why we've begun to turn our backs on it.

Kevin Fong

In this desperately urgent book, Tom Levenson masterfully weaves science and history to explain why no health measure has saved quite so many lives as vaccines, and why it flies in the face of reason for health officials to turn their backs on them now. I hope absolutely everyone reads this.

Angela Saini