vaccines and your family: separating fact from fiction

This book is a go-to guide for all families seeking trustworthy information about the science and safety of vaccines. Paul A. Offit and Charlotte A. Moser--scientists and parents with decades of experience--equip readers with the facts they need to navigate vaccine decisions for the whole family, from babies to elders. In straightforward prose, they offer accessible and authoritative answers to today’s most common vaccine-related questions.

Offit and Moser explain how vaccines work, how they are made, and how they are tested. Chapters examine vaccine safety, ingredients, the workings of the immune system, and practical considerations from the implications of different medical conditions to missed doses. The book covers vaccines that have been available for decades as well as newer vaccines for illnesses such as RSV, COVID-19, and mpox, including both traditional and mRNA vaccines. The second half of the book is a guide to individual vaccines organized by age groups, including the first and second year of life, ages three to six, older children and teenagers, and adults. A timely resource for all families, this book allays unfounded fears and provides a clear, easy-to-understand picture of vaccines and vaccination.

Vaccines and Your Family is a revised and updated edition of Vaccines and Your Child (2011) that expands coverage to include all ages and addresses recent scientific progress. It explores the new recommendations and new questions regarding vaccines that have arisen in the intervening years.

Paul A. Offit, MD, is the director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an internationally recognized vaccine expert and the coinventor of a rotavirus vaccine.

Charlotte A. Moser is codirector of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and creator of Parents PACK, the center’s program for the public. She has spent more than two decades designing content and resources that answer pressing vaccine questions and has published numerous scientific papers related to disease prevention, immunology, and vaccines.