Megan Coffee, MD, PhD, is a faculty member at the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University Hospital. She is an attending physician in infectious diseases at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and teaches on communicable diseases in humanitarian crises at Columbia University. She collaborates with a team at NYU to better predict disease severity in COVID. Sharon Perkins, RN, is the co-author of more than 10 For Dummies titles including Pregnancy For Dummies, Healthy Aging For Dummies, Dad’s Guide to Baby’s First Year For Dummies, and most recently, Getting Pregnant For Dummies.

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• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 2Beyond the Book 2Where to Go from Here 3Part 1: Getting Started with Vaccine Basics 5Chapter 1: Focusing on Vaccine Fundamentals 7Realizing the Crucial Role of Vaccines 8Explaining How a Vaccine Works 9Distinguishing between antigens and antibodies 10Breaking down other vaccine ingredients 10Comparing Viruses, Bacteria, and Toxins 11Studying COVID-19 Vaccine Development 14Understanding the Importance of Vaccine Schedules 15Preparing for Potential Vaccine Side Effects 16Optimizing Your Immune Response 16Chapter 2: The (Non) Life of a Virus 17Looking Inside Your Average Virus 18Investigating Influenza Viruses 18Type A 19Type B 21Type C 21Type D 22Examining Enteroviruses (Including Rhinoviruses) 22Knowing About Norovirus 23Understanding HIV 24Trying to Say Goodbye to Measles 25Checking Out the Cause of Chicken Pox: Varicella 26Fighting Ebola 27Surveying Variola (Smallpox) 29Chapter 3: The Crowned Virus: Coronavirus 31Identifying the Coronavirus in Humans 32Combatting the Common Cold Coronavirus 33What is a cold, exactly? 34What causes a cold? 34When is a cold not a cold? 35Surveying SARS and MERS 40Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) 40Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) 41COVID-19: The Novel (and Specially Confounding) Coronavirus 42Reviewing the start of the pandemic 42Charting the course of the infection 44Detecting a COVID-19 infection 46Digging into the development of COVID-19 vaccines 50Dealing with vaccine side effects 52Aiming for herd immunity 53Keeping safe from COVID-19 if you’re not yet protected by vaccination 55Coping with COVID-19 and flu season 56Chapter 4: Bacterial Bad Guys 57Understanding What Makes Bacteria Different from Viruses 57Digging into Vaccines That Defuse Bacteria 58The make-up of vaccines that protect against bacterial toxins 59The bacterial illnesses that vaccines prevent 59Comparing Antibiotics and Vaccines 64Seeing How Vaccines Help Prevent Antibiotic Resistance 65Part 2: Verifying Valuable Vaccines 67Chapter 5: Distinguishing and Testing Different Vaccines 69Getting to Know the Different Types of Vaccines 70Whole-pathogen vaccines 70Subunit vaccines 72Testing Vaccines for Safety and Effectiveness 75Determining the need and costs: The preclinical stage 75Phase I 76Phase II 76Phase III 76Post–Phase III 77Studying the Efficacy of Vaccines 78Measuring efficacy versus effectiveness 78Rounding up herd immunity 79Tracing the History of Various Vaccines 80Smallpox 80Typhoid fever 81Yellow fever 81Influenza 82Polio 82Anthrax 82Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) 82Varicella (chicken pox) 83Chapter 6: Tracking the Current List of Effective Vaccines 85Chicken Pox (Varicella) 85Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis 86Diphtheria 86Tetanus 87Pertussis 88Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (Hib) 88Hepatitis A 89Hepatitis B 90Human Papillomavirus (HPV) 92Influenza (Flu) 93Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) 95Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and Varicella (MMRV) 97Meningococcal Vaccines 97Pneumococcal Vaccines 98For adults 99For children 100Rotavirus 101Shingles (Herpes Zoster) 102Chapter 7: What to Expect When You’re Vaccinating 105Understanding Side Effects: What May Cause Them and What Happens 106Looking at common vaccine ingredients 106Distinguishing vaccine delivery methods 110Watching for localized skin reactions 111Expecting a systemic immune response 114Recognizing and Treating Serious Reactions 116Avoiding allergic reactions 117Anaphylactic reactions 117Febrile seizures after childhood vaccinations 118Guillain-Barré syndrome 119Thrombocytopenia 120Looking at Multiple Vaccines and the Immune System 120Part 3: Scheduling Safety 123Chapter 8: Vaccines for Children 125Understanding Mom-to-Baby Immunity 125Breastfeeding benefits 126Antibodies passed on during pregnancy 126Getting a Reminder of the Effectiveness and Importance of Vaccinations 127Focusing on Vaccinations in the First Year of Life 127Hepatitis B 128Rotavirus 129DTaP (Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) 131Hib 132IPV (inactivated polio vaccine) 132Influenza 133PCV13 134Knowing New Vaccinations for Toddlers 134MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) 136Varicella or MMRV 139Hepatitis A 140Surveying a Few Vaccines for Ages 4 to 6 140Adding Some School-Age Vaccinations 141Human papillomavirus (HPV) 141Meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY) 142Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) 142Needing a Booster: Vaccines for Teens 143Catching Up on Childhood Vaccines 144Spreading vaccines out 144Starting vaccines late 144Adopting a child from another country 145Checking Out Vaccine Schedules Around the World 146Chapter 9: Vaccines for Adults 147Vaccines When You’re 19–26 Years Old 147Your yearly flu shot 148The COVID-19 vaccine 149A Tdap or Td booster 150Vaccines When You’re 27–49 Years Old 151Vaccines When You’re 50–64 Years Old 151Vaccines When You’re 65-Plus Years Old 153Influenza 153Tdap 155Pneumococcal vaccines 156Vaccines Before and During Pregnancy 156Vaccines for Travelers 157Making sure you’re up to date on routine vaccines 158Getting other vaccines depending on your destination 158Catching Up: If Your Parents/Guardians Didn’t Vaccinate You 160Chapter 10: Spelling Out Who May Face Risks 161Knowing When to Avoid or Limit Vaccines 161Considering vaccines and cancer 162Vaccines and immune disorders 163Vaccines after organ transplantation 164Understanding Vaccines and Allergies 165Allergies to vaccine ingredients and components 165Different types of reactions 168Recognizing reactions that actually aren’t allergies 169Taking precautions before vaccination 169Assessing Reactions to the COVID-19 Vaccine 170Rare cases of anaphylaxis 170Other types of reactions 170Inspecting ingredients found in current COVID-19 vaccines 171Getting the COVID-19 vaccine after you’ve had COVID-19 173Chapter 11: Anti-Vaxxers and Debunking Myths About Vaccines 175Studying the Rise of Vaccine Hesitancy 176Understanding why some people don’t vaccinate 176Looking at the early anti-vaxxers 178Debunking Common Vaccine Myths 179Myth: Diseases were disappearing before vaccines were invented 180Myth: Vaccines cause serious side effects, illnesses, and death 180Myth: Kids don’t need to be vaccinated so young 181Myth: Kids don’t need to be vaccinated when illnesses don’t exist in their country 184Myth: Giving multiple vaccines at the same time overloads the immune system 184Myth: Vaccines can cause the disease they are supposed to prevent 185Myth: Not getting vaccinated affects only me 186Myth: Natural immunity is always best 186Myth: The MMR vaccine causes autism 187Myth: Vaccines contain harmful chemicals 188Reviewing Vaccine Recalls 189Part 4: The Part of Tens 191Chapter 12: Five People Who Created Ten (Or More) Modern Vaccines 193Edward Jenner: Snuffing Out Smallpox 193Louis Pasteur: Ridding the World of Rabies 194Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin: Putting Polio Behind Us 195Maurice Hilleman: The Master of Modern Vaccines 196Chapter 13: Ten Diseases Without Vaccines, from A to Z 199Avian Influenzas (Bird Flu) 200Cytomegalovirus (CMV) 200Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) 201Hepatitis C 202Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) 1 and 2 203HIV/AIDS 204Lyme Disease 205Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) 207West Nile Virus 208Zika Virus 209Chapter 14: The Ten Most Lethal Major Pandemics 211Antonine Plague (165–180) 212Plague of Justinian (541–750) 212Bubonic Plague (Black Death) (1346–1353) 213Cholera (1846–1860) 214Third Plague Pandemic (1855–1960) 215Influenza (Russian Flu) (1889–1890) 215Influenza (Spanish Flu) (1918–1919) 216Influenza (Asian Flu) (1957–1958) 217Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (1981–Present) 217COVID-19 (2020–Present) 218Chapter 15: Ten Ways to Boost Your Immune System 219Getting Your Vaccinations 219Decreasing Stress 220Eating Well 220Maintaining a Healthy Weight 221Getting Enough Sleep 221Exercising for Immunity 222Saying No to Smoking 222Drinking Only in Moderation 223Staying Connected 223Considering Supplements 224Index 225

Megan Coffee, MD, PhD, is a faculty member at the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University Hospital. She is an attending physician in infectious diseases at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and teaches on communicable diseases in humanitarian crises at Columbia University. She collaborates with a team at NYU to better predict disease severity in COVID. Sharon Perkins, RN, is the co-author of more than 10 For Dummies titles including Pregnancy For Dummies, Healthy Aging For Dummies, Dad’s Guide to Baby’s First Year For Dummies, and most recently, Getting Pregnant For Dummies.

Select Guide Rating

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 2Beyond the Book 2Where to Go from Here 3Part 1: Getting Started with Vaccine Basics 5Chapter 1: Focusing on Vaccine Fundamentals 7Realizing the Crucial Role of Vaccines 8Explaining How a Vaccine Works 9Distinguishing between antigens and antibodies 10Breaking down other vaccine ingredients 10Comparing Viruses, Bacteria, and Toxins 11Studying COVID-19 Vaccine Development 14Understanding the Importance of Vaccine Schedules 15Preparing for Potential Vaccine Side Effects 16Optimizing Your Immune Response 16Chapter 2: The (Non) Life of a Virus 17Looking Inside Your Average Virus 18Investigating Influenza Viruses 18Type A 19Type B 21Type C 21Type D 22Examining Enteroviruses (Including Rhinoviruses) 22Knowing About Norovirus 23Understanding HIV 24Trying to Say Goodbye to Measles 25Checking Out the Cause of Chicken Pox: Varicella 26Fighting Ebola 27Surveying Variola (Smallpox) 29Chapter 3: The Crowned Virus: Coronavirus 31Identifying the Coronavirus in Humans 32Combatting the Common Cold Coronavirus 33What is a cold, exactly? 34What causes a cold? 34When is a cold not a cold? 35Surveying SARS and MERS 40Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) 40Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) 41COVID-19: The Novel (and Specially Confounding) Coronavirus 42Reviewing the start of the pandemic 42Charting the course of the infection 44Detecting a COVID-19 infection 46Digging into the development of COVID-19 vaccines 50Dealing with vaccine side effects 52Aiming for herd immunity 53Keeping safe from COVID-19 if you’re not yet protected by vaccination 55Coping with COVID-19 and flu season 56Chapter 4: Bacterial Bad Guys 57Understanding What Makes Bacteria Different from Viruses 57Digging into Vaccines That Defuse Bacteria 58The make-up of vaccines that protect against bacterial toxins 59The bacterial illnesses that vaccines prevent 59Comparing Antibiotics and Vaccines 64Seeing How Vaccines Help Prevent Antibiotic Resistance 65Part 2: Verifying Valuable Vaccines 67Chapter 5: Distinguishing and Testing Different Vaccines 69Getting to Know the Different Types of Vaccines 70Whole-pathogen vaccines 70Subunit vaccines 72Testing Vaccines for Safety and Effectiveness 75Determining the need and costs: The preclinical stage 75Phase I 76Phase II 76Phase III 76Post–Phase III 77Studying the Efficacy of Vaccines 78Measuring efficacy versus effectiveness 78Rounding up herd immunity 79Tracing the History of Various Vaccines 80Smallpox 80Typhoid fever 81Yellow fever 81Influenza 82Polio 82Anthrax 82Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) 82Varicella (chicken pox) 83Chapter 6: Tracking the Current List of Effective Vaccines 85Chicken Pox (Varicella) 85Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis 86Diphtheria 86Tetanus 87Pertussis 88Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (Hib) 88Hepatitis A 89Hepatitis B 90Human Papillomavirus (HPV) 92Influenza (Flu) 93Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) 95Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and Varicella (MMRV) 97Meningococcal Vaccines 97Pneumococcal Vaccines 98For adults 99For children 100Rotavirus 101Shingles (Herpes Zoster) 102Chapter 7: What to Expect When You’re Vaccinating 105Understanding Side Effects: What May Cause Them and What Happens 106Looking at common vaccine ingredients 106Distinguishing vaccine delivery methods 110Watching for localized skin reactions 111Expecting a systemic immune response 114Recognizing and Treating Serious Reactions 116Avoiding allergic reactions 117Anaphylactic reactions 117Febrile seizures after childhood vaccinations 118Guillain-Barré syndrome 119Thrombocytopenia 120Looking at Multiple Vaccines and the Immune System 120Part 3: Scheduling Safety 123Chapter 8: Vaccines for Children 125Understanding Mom-to-Baby Immunity 125Breastfeeding benefits 126Antibodies passed on during pregnancy 126Getting a Reminder of the Effectiveness and Importance of Vaccinations 127Focusing on Vaccinations in the First Year of Life 127Hepatitis B 128Rotavirus 129DTaP (Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) 131Hib 132IPV (inactivated polio vaccine) 132Influenza 133PCV13 134Knowing New Vaccinations for Toddlers 134MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) 136Varicella or MMRV 139Hepatitis A 140Surveying a Few Vaccines for Ages 4 to 6 140Adding Some School-Age Vaccinations 141Human papillomavirus (HPV) 141Meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY) 142Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) 142Needing a Booster: Vaccines for Teens 143Catching Up on Childhood Vaccines 144Spreading vaccines out 144Starting vaccines late 144Adopting a child from another country 145Checking Out Vaccine Schedules Around the World 146Chapter 9: Vaccines for Adults 147Vaccines When You’re 19–26 Years Old 147Your yearly flu shot 148The COVID-19 vaccine 149A Tdap or Td booster 150Vaccines When You’re 27–49 Years Old 151Vaccines When You’re 50–64 Years Old 151Vaccines When You’re 65-Plus Years Old 153Influenza 153Tdap 155Pneumococcal vaccines 156Vaccines Before and During Pregnancy 156Vaccines for Travelers 157Making sure you’re up to date on routine vaccines 158Getting other vaccines depending on your destination 158Catching Up: If Your Parents/Guardians Didn’t Vaccinate You 160Chapter 10: Spelling Out Who May Face Risks 161Knowing When to Avoid or Limit Vaccines 161Considering vaccines and cancer 162Vaccines and immune disorders 163Vaccines after organ transplantation 164Understanding Vaccines and Allergies 165Allergies to vaccine ingredients and components 165Different types of reactions 168Recognizing reactions that actually aren’t allergies 169Taking precautions before vaccination 169Assessing Reactions to the COVID-19 Vaccine 170Rare cases of anaphylaxis 170Other types of reactions 170Inspecting ingredients found in current COVID-19 vaccines 171Getting the COVID-19 vaccine after you’ve had COVID-19 173Chapter 11: Anti-Vaxxers and Debunking Myths About Vaccines 175Studying the Rise of Vaccine Hesitancy 176Understanding why some people don’t vaccinate 176Looking at the early anti-vaxxers 178Debunking Common Vaccine Myths 179Myth: Diseases were disappearing before vaccines were invented 180Myth: Vaccines cause serious side effects, illnesses, and death 180Myth: Kids don’t need to be vaccinated so young 181Myth: Kids don’t need to be vaccinated when illnesses don’t exist in their country 184Myth: Giving multiple vaccines at the same time overloads the immune system 184Myth: Vaccines can cause the disease they are supposed to prevent 185Myth: Not getting vaccinated affects only me 186Myth: Natural immunity is always best 186Myth: The MMR vaccine causes autism 187Myth: Vaccines contain harmful chemicals 188Reviewing Vaccine Recalls 189Part 4: The Part of Tens 191Chapter 12: Five People Who Created Ten (Or More) Modern Vaccines 193Edward Jenner: Snuffing Out Smallpox 193Louis Pasteur: Ridding the World of Rabies 194Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin: Putting Polio Behind Us 195Maurice Hilleman: The Master of Modern Vaccines 196Chapter 13: Ten Diseases Without Vaccines, from A to Z 199Avian Influenzas (Bird Flu) 200Cytomegalovirus (CMV) 200Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) 201Hepatitis C 202Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) 1 and 2 203HIV/AIDS 204Lyme Disease 205Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) 207West Nile Virus 208Zika Virus 209Chapter 14: The Ten Most Lethal Major Pandemics 211Antonine Plague (165–180) 212Plague of Justinian (541–750) 212Bubonic Plague (Black Death) (1346–1353) 213Cholera (1846–1860) 214Third Plague Pandemic (1855–1960) 215Influenza (Russian Flu) (1889–1890) 215Influenza (Spanish Flu) (1918–1919) 216Influenza (Asian Flu) (1957–1958) 217Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (1981–Present) 217COVID-19 (2020–Present) 218Chapter 15: Ten Ways to Boost Your Immune System 219Getting Your Vaccinations 219Decreasing Stress 220Eating Well 220Maintaining a Healthy Weight 221Getting Enough Sleep 221Exercising for Immunity 222Saying No to Smoking 222Drinking Only in Moderation 223Staying Connected 223Considering Supplements 224Index 225