Vaccines
Mythology, Ideology, and Reality
Published on 20. November 2025
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-64821-189-8 (ISBN)
Description
The word "vaccine" derives from the Latin word for cow. The English physician, Edward Jenner, coined it in his 1798 pamphlet An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae.
The last two Latin words mean "Smallpox of the Cow," or cowpox. Jenner postulated that cowpox causes mild disease in humans while protecting them from the more dangerous smallpox. His proposal for inoculation with a weak form of disease-causing matter to prevent serious illness became the central concept of infectious disease medicine and has remained so ever since. The word "vaccine" was subsequently applied to immunizations against all infectious diseases. Its etymology is amazingly apt, because vaccines are the ultimate sacred cow.
Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality tells the story of this technology and the celebrated men who developed it with some success, but also with failures that are never mentioned in the celebratory literature on vaccines. Vaccine advocates often proclaim that they "follow the science," but most vaccine development has been a matter of guesses, gambles, and wild experimentation. Its key figures have been biased by religious faith, wishful thinking, ideology, and a desire for recognition and money.
Though credit is due to some vaccines for reducing infectious disease morbidity and mortality, their contribution to public health in developed nations has been grossly exaggerated by propagandists. Dramatic improvements in nutrition and sanitation were the primary drivers of this trend. The authors do not dismiss the concept of vaccination but seek to promote a more informed and less dogmatic discussion about its risks and benefits. Critical evaluation can only make the technology safer and more effective.
The last two Latin words mean "Smallpox of the Cow," or cowpox. Jenner postulated that cowpox causes mild disease in humans while protecting them from the more dangerous smallpox. His proposal for inoculation with a weak form of disease-causing matter to prevent serious illness became the central concept of infectious disease medicine and has remained so ever since. The word "vaccine" was subsequently applied to immunizations against all infectious diseases. Its etymology is amazingly apt, because vaccines are the ultimate sacred cow.
Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality tells the story of this technology and the celebrated men who developed it with some success, but also with failures that are never mentioned in the celebratory literature on vaccines. Vaccine advocates often proclaim that they "follow the science," but most vaccine development has been a matter of guesses, gambles, and wild experimentation. Its key figures have been biased by religious faith, wishful thinking, ideology, and a desire for recognition and money.
Though credit is due to some vaccines for reducing infectious disease morbidity and mortality, their contribution to public health in developed nations has been grossly exaggerated by propagandists. Dramatic improvements in nutrition and sanitation were the primary drivers of this trend. The authors do not dismiss the concept of vaccination but seek to promote a more informed and less dogmatic discussion about its risks and benefits. Critical evaluation can only make the technology safer and more effective.
Reviews / Votes
"Dr. Peter McCullough and John Leake have done the near-impossible: cutting through the noise and contemporary dramas around the issues of vaccines, they have produced a page-turning history and a gripping analysis of vaccines as myth and social ideology. This astute combination of intellectual and medical history, cultural analysis, and hard-hitting medical and scientific exposition could not have been accomplished by any other team. Vaccines will change the way you think about medical history, and how the collective mind, shaped by powerful interests, may propagate illusions out of thin air. This is an essential book for navigating our frenzied times with knowledge and insight, and it is one that will outlast us-a beautifully written classic of medical history and the history of ideas."-Dr. Naomi Wolf
"The appeal of vaccines that can prevent disease and death is obvious. Unfortunately, blind faith in vaccines has replaced critical thinking and robust cost-benefit analysis. Dr. Peter McCullough and John Leake provide both as they recount the history of vaccination in their must-read book."
-Senator Ron Johnson
"A sweeping historical investigation that presents objective and competent guidance to the promise, folly, and dangers of vaccines-an industry that clearly needs a reset in light of evidence."
-Jeffrey Tucker, Brownstone Institute
"John Leake and Peter McCullough, MD, separate fact from fiction in their telling of the 120-year history of the modern vaccine era. The most recent myth they expose is that new technologies can change the rules of biology-a false proposition that culminated with untested mRNA 'vaccines,' whose champions aspired to inject everyone with their new product. Vaccines challenges this con that threatens the health of humanity."
-Robert Clancy, emeritus professor of immunology, University of Newcastle "Dr. Peter McCullough and John Leake have done the near-impossible: cutting through the noise and contemporary dramas around the issues of vaccines, they have produced a page-turning history and a gripping analysis of vaccines as myth and social ideology. This astute combination of intellectual and medical history, cultural analysis, and hard-hitting medical and scientific exposition could not have been accomplished by any other team. Vaccines will change the way you think about medical history, and how the collective mind, shaped by powerful interests, may propagate illusions out of thin air. This is an essential book for navigating our frenzied times with knowledge and insight, and it is one that will outlast us-a beautifully written classic of medical history and the history of ideas."
-Dr. Naomi Wolf
"The appeal of vaccines that can prevent disease and death is obvious. Unfortunately, blind faith in vaccines has replaced critical thinking and robust cost-benefit analysis. Dr. Peter McCullough and John Leake provide both as they recount the history of vaccination in their must-read book."
-Senator Ron Johnson
"A sweeping historical investigation that presents objective and competent guidance to the promise, folly, and dangers of vaccines-an industry that clearly needs a reset in light of evidence."
-Jeffrey Tucker, Brownstone Institute
"John Leake and Peter McCullough, MD, separate fact from fiction in their telling of the 120-year history of the modern vaccine era. The most recent myth they expose is that new technologies can change the rules of biology-a false proposition that culminated with untested mRNA 'vaccines,' whose champions aspired to inject everyone with their new product. Vaccines challenges this con that threatens the health of humanity."
-Robert Clancy, emeritus professor of immunology, University of Newcastle
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Skyhorse Publishing
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
418 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-64821-189-8 (9781648211898)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
John Leake is a nonfiction author with a lifelong interest in medical history and forensic medicine. Since 2021, he has worked with Dr. Peter McCullough and was the primary author of their bestselling book The Courage to Face COVID-19. He writes a daily investigative report for the Focal Points (Substack) newsletter and is secretary of the McCullough Foundation
Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH, is an internist, cardiologist, and epidemiologist who has been a leader in the medical response to COVID-19. In 2020, he published "Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection" in the American Journal of Medicine. This paper presented the first synthesis of sequenced multidrug treatment of ambulatory patients and was subsequently updated in Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine. He has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers on COVID-19 and commented on the medical response in countless media outlets. He has also testified repeatedly in the US Senate and several state legislatures. He is president of the McCullough Foundation.
Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH, is an internist, cardiologist, and epidemiologist who has been a leader in the medical response to COVID-19. In 2020, he published "Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection" in the American Journal of Medicine. This paper presented the first synthesis of sequenced multidrug treatment of ambulatory patients and was subsequently updated in Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine. He has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers on COVID-19 and commented on the medical response in countless media outlets. He has also testified repeatedly in the US Senate and several state legislatures. He is president of the McCullough Foundation.