
Booster Shots
The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children's Health
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Narrated by:
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Adam Ratner MD MPH
About this listen
A pediatrician and infectious disease specialist warns of the resurgence of measles, the antivaccine movement, and how we can prepare for the next pandemic
Every single child diagnosed with measles represents a system failure—an inexcusable unforced error. The technology to prevent essentially 100 percent of measles cases has been in our hands since before the moon landing. But this serious airborne disease, once seemingly defeated, is resurgent around the globe. Why, at a time when biomedical science is so advanced, do parents turn away from vaccination, endangering their own children and the health of the wider population?
Using a combination of patient narrative, historical analysis, and scientific research, Dr. Adam Ratner, pediatrician and infectious disease specialist, argues that the reawakening of measles and the subsequent coronavirus pandemic are bellwethers of forgotten knowledge—indicators of decaying trust in science and an underfunded public health infrastructure. Our collective amnesia is starkly revealed in the growth of the antivaccine movement and the missteps in our responses to the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, leading to preventable tragedies in both cases.
Trust in medicine and public health is at a nadir. Declining vaccine confidence threatens a global reemergence of other vaccine-preventable diseases in the coming years. Ratner details how solving these problems requires the use of literal and figurative “booster shots” to gather new knowledge and retain the crucial lessons of the past. Learning—and remembering—these lessons is our best hope for preparing for the next pandemic. With attention and care and the tools we already have, we can make the world much safer for children tomorrow than it is today.
©2025 Adam Ratner (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"A masterful history of both grand and intimate scale, Dr. Ratner details how we reached a point of extraordinary scientific achievement and painful systemic distrust, making a forceful case for the path forward, across politics, public health, and patient care."—Chelsea Clinton
“Not only have we largely eliminated measles from the United States, we’ve eliminated the memory of measles. As a result, measles is coming back. Weaving historical events with personal experiences, Dr. Ratner makes us remember, telling us exactly what is at stake if we continue along this path. A fascinating read—Booster Shots is a call to arms in a troubled time.”—Paul A. Offit, MD, author of Tell Me When It’s Over
“In many parts of the world, we are seeing the return of measles because of interruptions in childhood immunization programs, but also because parents are refusing to vaccinate their children. In Booster Shots, pediatric infectious disease expert Dr. Ratner informs us on what we must do to get back on track, and the potential for global eradication.”—Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, Director, Center for Vaccine Development, Texas Children's Hospital
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Great read!
- By Dr. B on 06-17-25
By: Thomas Levenson
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On Call
- A Doctor's Journey in Public Service
- By: Anthony Fauci M.D.
- Narrated by: Anthony Fauci M.D.
- Length: 19 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Anthony Fauci is arguably the most famous–and most revered–doctor in the world today. His role guiding America sanely and calmly through Covid (and through the torrents of Trump) earned him the trust of millions during one of the most terrifying periods in modern American history, but this was only the most recent of the global epidemics in which Dr. Fauci played a major role. His crucial role in researching HIV and bringing AIDS into sympathetic public view and his leadership in navigating the Ebola, SARS, West Nile, and anthrax crises, make him truly an American hero.
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A man of worth
- By debra on 06-24-24
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The Pardon
- The Politics of Presidential Mercy
- By: Jeffrey Toobin
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Toobin
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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The power of the presidential pardon has our national attention now more than ever before. In The Pardon, New York Times bestselling author and CNN legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin provides a timely and compelling narrative of the most controversial presidential pardon in American history—Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon, revealing the profound implications for our current political landscape, and how it is already affecting the legacies of both Presidents Biden and Trump.
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Toobin should stick to Zoom meetings
- By Steven Frank on 03-18-25
By: Jeffrey Toobin
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A History of the World in Six Plagues
- How Contagion, Class, and Captivity Shaped Us, from Cholera to Covid-19
- By: Edna Bonhomme
- Narrated by: Veronique Olin
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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A History of the World in Six Plagues shows that throughout history, outbreaks of disease have been exacerbated by and gone on to further expand the racial, economic, and sociopolitical divides we allow to fester in times of good health. Princeton-trained historian Edna Bonhomme’s examination of humanity’s disastrous treatment of pandemic disease takes us across place and time from Port-au-Prince to Tanzania, and from plantation-era America to our modern COVID-19-scarred world to unravel shocking truths about the patterns of discrimination in the face of disease.
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Good story wrecked by silly language and a terrible narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 05-25-25
By: Edna Bonhomme
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Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins
- Lessons on Belonging from Our DNA
- By: Shoumita Dasgupta
- Narrated by: Sharmila Devar
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Well-meaning physicians, parents, and even scientists today often spread misinformation about what biology can and can't tell us about our bodies, minds, and identities. In this accessible, myth-busting book, geneticist Shoumita Dasgupta draws on the latest science to correct common misconceptions about how much of our social identities are actually based in genetics.
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Everything Is Tuberculosis
- The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
- By: John Green
- Narrated by: John Green
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year. In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story.
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Powerful, Heartbreaking, Informative, Inspiring, Hopeful.
- By Kendall R. Genier on 03-25-25
By: John Green
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Original Sins
- The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism
- By: Eve L. Ewing
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Eve L. Ewing
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Why don’t our schools work? Eve L. Ewing tackles this question from a new angle: What if they’re actually doing what they were built to do? She argues that instead of being the great equalizer, America’s classrooms were designed to do the opposite: to maintain the nation’s inequalities. It’s a task at which they excel.
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A must read for educators and everyone!
- By Alonna on 05-06-25
By: Eve L. Ewing
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The Social Paradox
- Autonomy, Connection, and Why We Need Both to Find Happiness
- By: William von Hippel
- Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Why do people who have so much—leading comfortable lives filled with unprecedented freedom, choice, and abundance—often feel so unhappy and unfulfilled? This phenomenon is a defining paradox of our time and one we endlessly seek to solve. In The Social Paradox, psychologist William von Hippel argues that we need to think about this problem in a new way. By changing our perspective, we might finally see the solution, bringing us greater happiness and more satisfying relationships. The key is to understand the interplay between our two most basic psychological needs—for connection and autonomy.
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Excellent perspective
- By jewelia on 04-09-25
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Pseudoscience
- An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them
- By: Lydia Kang MD, Nate Pedersen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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From the easily disproved to the wildly speculative, to straight-up hucksterism, Pseudoscience is a romp through much more than bad science—it’s a light-hearted look into why we insist on believing in things such as Big Foot, astrology, and the existence of aliens. Did you know, for example, that you can tell a person’s future by touching their butt? Rumpology. It’s a thing, but not really. Or that Stanley Kubrick made a fake moon landing film for the US government? Except he didn’t. Or that spontaneous human combustion is real? It ain’t, but it can be explained scientifically.
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Same old stories…waste of time to read.
- By Kelly on 05-20-25
By: Lydia Kang MD, and others
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How to Feed the World
- The History and Future of Food
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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We have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food. In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today.
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lots of dense information, hard to absorb.
- By chris on 05-20-25
By: Vaclav Smil
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The Anthropocene Reviewed
- Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
- By: John Green
- Narrated by: John Green
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, best-selling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale - from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar.
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unexpected
- By E. Collins on 05-18-21
By: John Green
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The Longest Con
- How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism
- By: Joe Conason
- Narrated by: Steve Marvel
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Longest Con tells the fascinating story of the partisan con artists who have corrupted conservative politics in our time, creating a toxic phenomenon that culminated in the election of Donald Trump, a bumptious fraud whose checkered career and tawdry retinue, including his presidential cabinet, have featured almost every variety of scam. But long before he appeared, Trump's path to power was blazed by the motley horde of swindlers and quacks who preceded him.
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Avalanche of Facts
- By K. Clark on 01-13-25
By: Joe Conason
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Why We're Polarized
- By: Ezra Klein
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In Why We’re Polarized, Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics.
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Good as an intro, skip if you’re a wonk
- By Tony on 01-29-20
By: Ezra Klein
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The Grieving Body
- How the Stress of Loss Can Be an Opportunity for Healing
- By: Mary-Frances O'Connor
- Narrated by: Mary-Frances O'Connor
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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While we can speak to the psychological and emotional ramifications of loss and sorrow, we often overlook its impact on our physical bodies. Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor specializes in the study of grief, and in The Grieving Body she shares vital scientific research, revealing imperative new insights on its profound physiological impact. As she did in The Grieving Brain, O’Connor combines illuminating studies and personal stories to explore the toll loss takes on our cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems and the larger implications for our long-term well-being.
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Grief messes you up!
- By KL on 05-04-25
Dr Ratner gives an excellent history of vaccine development (measles and other diseases), and a discussion of the political and economic influences on our ability to eradicate a disease for which we have the tools to do so. His explanations are clear and in terms that any interested individual should be able to understand. His narration is superb. Thank you!
A really important lesson
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Loved it!
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A must listen
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Excellent book!
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Valuable history
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History of 1846 measles outbreak in Faroe Islands inspires
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