We, the People, seek to order: a more perfect union of peoples, Justice, peace and prosperity; a secure life and liberty to pursue our individual goals, including happiness.

This paraphrase of the 1787 US Constitution explains what we want from government.  Democracy demands active citizens, knowledge is a pre-requisite.  Numbers count.

Vaccines are designed to prevent infection by preparing the immune system to ward off the specific bug each vaccine targets.  There are different types of bugs that cause serious illnesses and so, different types of vaccines to protect against these.

I am trying to develop a story to explain how vaccines work and why these marvels of science are considered so dangerous by a small fringe.  And to tell this story properly, we will need to understand the cognitive illusions created by our minds, and the biases that can make us certain of our view, even after we see evidence against it.

In the process we need to learn about numbers; the first lesson is that numbers can lie.