Eula Biss on the myth and medicine of immunity

'On Immunity' by Eula Biss
'On Immunity' by Eula Biss
Book cover courtesy of publisher

When Eula Biss had her first child, she found herself in conversation after conversation about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. In the end she decided to have her child get fully vaccinated, but she wanted to explore where the oppositions and fears of vaccination began.

Melissa Maerz for Entertainment Weekly says the book isn't a guide for parents pondering the DTaP shot:

This is a deeply philosophical book, one that's less concerned with pure science than with the elemental fear that we can never protect our children from the world. In fact, Biss believes, no one can ever truly be inoculated from other people -- nor should anyone be. By exploring the anxieties about what's lurking inside our flu shots, the air, and ourselves, she drives home the message that we are all responsible for one another. On Immunity will make you consider that idea on a fairly profound level.

Biss joins The Daily Circuit to discuss her book, "On Immunity: An Inoculation."