Vaccinated: From Cowpox to mRNA, the Remarkable Story of Vaccines

"Medical writing at its finest."—David Oshinsky, author of Polio and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for HistoryRespected physician Paul Offit tells a fascinating story of modern medicine and pays tribute to one of the greatest lifesaving breakthroughs—vaccinations—and the medical hero responsible for developing nine of the big fourteen vaccines which have saved billions of lives worldwide. This edition includes a new foreword by the author.Maurice Hilleman’s mother died a day after he was born and his twin sister was stillborn. Believing that he had escaped an appointment with death, he made it his life’s work to see that others could do the same. The fruits of his labors were nine vaccines that practically every child receives, everyday miracles of modern medicine that have eradicated some of the most common—and devastating—diseases, including mumps and rubella.Offit, a vaccine researcher himself who co-invented the rotavirus vaccine, befriended Hilleman and, during the great man’s fina