In this thoughtful and thought-provoking book she takes us on that journey.
Understandably, perhaps, it is not a straightforward story, meandering as Biss reflects on what she finds out as she goes.
Despite Biss' good writing and my own love of tangents, I found the structure of the book unsatisfying.
I also became impatient with references to Dracula and metaphors.
Biss' considerable research is woven through the story.
There were extra interesting details in the notes at the book's end, but it would have been easier for the reader if they had been footnotes included in the main part.
While she discusses the hysteria about vaccine risks and the way misinformation can thrive on the internet, I would have welcomed an exploration of the way some vaccines are promoted by health authorities and whether their enthusiasm can result in hype or the provision of very selective information.
I still smart from being portrayed as an irresponsible public enemy for writing an opinion piece questioning the adequacy and tone of information we parents were given during the $200 million meningococcal (MeNZ B) vaccination campaign several years ago.
Some of the material on the history of vaccination is fascinating.
Biss tells us smallpox survivor George Washington wrestled with the question of whether to require revolutionary soldiers be inoculated against the disease.
At the time, the deadliest smallpox epidemic the colonies had seen was in the process of taking 100,000 lives.
This was before vaccination had been invented, so the method Washington was considering was variolation, which had known dangers and was illegal in some colonies.
It involved rubbing material from scabs or placing fluid from smallpox pustules into scratches on the skin of the person you were trying to protect.
Several times Washington ordered inoculation and then thought better of it, but finally rumours the British (whose troops were mostly immune to the disease) planned to spread smallpox made him order the inoculation of all new recruits.
Smallpox was certified eradicated in 1980, but Biss notes the successful vaccine was far more dangerous than any vaccine now on the childhood schedule: it killed about one person in a million and a third of those who received it suffered serious fevers or rashes and could be sick for several days.
Biss favours vaccinations. She describes immunity as a public space.
''And it can be occupied by those who choose not to carry immunity. For some of the mothers I know, a refusal to vaccinate falls under a broader resistance to capitalism.
"But refusing immunity as a form of civil disobedience bears an unsettling resemblance to the very structure the Occupy movement seeks to disrupt: a privileged 1% are sheltered from risk while they draw resources from the other 99%.''
• Elspeth McLean is an ODT columnist and former health reporter.
