The First Shots

The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine

Brendan Borrell

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9780063269095
• eBook ISBN:
  9780358566182
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Immunology
• Index: Social Sciences

The full inside story of the high-stakes, global race for the lifesaving vaccine to end the pandemic
Heroic science. Chaotic politics. Billionaire entrepreneurs. Award-winning journalist Brendan Borrell brings the defining story of our times alive through compulsively readable, first-time reporting on the players leading the fight against a vicious virus.  The First Shots, soon to be the subject of an HBO limited series with superstar director and producer Adam McKay ( Succession, Vice, The Big Short), draws on exclusive, high-level access to weave together the intense vaccine-race conflicts among hard-driving, heroic scientists and the epic rivalries among Washington power players that shaped 18 months of fear, resolve, and triumph.
From infectious disease expert Michael Callahan, an American doctor secretly on the ground in Wuhan in January 2020 to gauge the terrifying ravages of Disease X; to Robert (Dr. Bob) Kadlec, one of Operation Warp Speed's architects, whose audacious plans for the American people run straight into the buzz saw of the Trump White House factions; to Stéphane Bancel of upstart Moderna Therapeutics going toe-to-toe with pharma behemoth Pfizer,  The First Shots lays bare, in a way we have not seen, the full stunning story behind the medical science "moon shot" of our lifetimes.

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Abbott, Greg, 160, 239, 247

Abe, Shinzo, 67

Abiona, Olubukola “Olu,” 42–43, 95

ACE2 receptor, 7, 8, 58

Achin, Jeremy, 180

ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices), 240–41, 243, 244–45

ACTIV (Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines), 283n

Adams, Jerome, 209

adenovirus vector vaccines, 20–21, 55, 167. See also viral vector vaccines

Afeyan, Noubar, 100

Alexander, Lamar, 129–30

Alexander, Paul, 171, 212–14

American Indian community, 122, 171

America Strong mask effort, 119–20, 253

amino acids, 6

animal-borne (zoonotic) diseases, 4

anthrax and anthrax vaccine, 35–36

antibodies, 26–27, 61–62. See also monoclonal-antibody therapies

antiviral drugs, 73–74, 78, 81. See also remdesivir

Arrieta, Jose, 164–65, 179–80, 185

ASPR (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response). See also BARDA

Biden and, 270–71

Bright’s testimony about, 146–47

Callahan’s stint with, 30, 66–67, 74

CDC’s early response to virus and, 40–41

community-mitigation measures and, 71

creation of, 36

Crimson Contagion run by, 23

DMORTs deployed by, 114

funding needed by, 38–39, 65, 66, 72, 111

immigrant family separations and, 37

Kadlec as head of, 22

Kadlec’s last duty at, 266–67

office slogan, 31–32

AstraZeneca

Azar’s deal with, 158–59

cast of characters, xi

ChAdOx1 vaccine, 135–36, 137, 155–56

clinical trials and, 176, 207–8, 210

collaboration with Moderna, 108

COVID-19 Vaccine Maker Pledge and, 210

early out...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Cast of Characters
• Prologue
• Part 1: Emergence: January 2020–March 2020
• Part 2: Lockdown: March 2020–May 2020
• Part 3: Testing: May 2020–October 2020
• Part 4: Rollout: October 2020–January 2021
• Afterword
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• Photo Section
• About the Author
• Praise
• Copyright
• About the Publisher