THE GREATER GOOD is a character-driven documentary that explores the cultural intersections where parenting meets modern medicine and individual rights collide with politics. The film offers parents, doctors and policy makers a safe space to speak openly, actively listen and to learn from one another. Mixing verité footage, intimate interviews, 1950s-era government-produced movies and up-to-date TV news reporting, THE GREATER GOOD weaves together the stories of families whose lives have been forever changed by vaccination.
THE GREATER GOOD interviews leading authorities on vaccines and vaccine safety. Equal consideration is given to the doctors and scientists who advocate for universal vaccination as to those who persistently ask probing questions about regulation and administration.
DR. PAUL OFFIT is a highly esteemed infectious disease doctor, vaccine patent holder, Merck consultant and the most vocal vaccine advocate in America today. As he walks the halls of the prestigious Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Offit wants only to help children, and he is a staunch believer in the ideal of the greater good. He reflects on the dark days when polio was widespread, and when it comes to vaccine policy, he says candidly that parents are not in the best position to choose what is right for their children.
In his book, Autism’s False Prophets, he condemns many who have linked vaccines to autism—an issue that has co-opted the spotlight from the larger issue of vaccine safety—and expresses optimism for the future of the national vaccine program.
BARBARA LOE FISHER, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center and co-author of the 1985 book DPT: A Shot in the Dark, has advocated for public education and the ethical principle of informed consent regarding mandatory vaccination policies. Her interest in the issue began after her two and a half year old son suffered a severe reaction to his fourth DPT shot in 1980 resulting in permanent brain injury that left him with multiple learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. She worked with Congress on the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 and served on the federal National Vaccine Advisory Committee (1988-1992); Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum (1995-1998); FDA Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (1999-2002); CDC’s Vaccine Policy Analysis Collaborative (2002-2005) and has testified in Congress and in state legislatures on vaccine safety and exemption issues.