"For decades we’ll be studying where our country succeeded and how it faltered in its fight against the worst pandemic in 100 years. In his vivid account of the tumultuous journey toward developing a coronavirus vaccine, Brendan Borrell offers immediate and hugely valuable insights. Beyond the chaotic politics, clashing egos and erratic logistics were unprecedented scientific achievements. Those audacious efforts, and the people behind them, come fully to life in Borrell’s absorbing narrative." — Marty Baron, Executive Editor (retired) of The Washington Post
“Brendan Borrell has delivered the definitive account of the race to develop and manufacture the vaccines needed to combat Covid-19. The book does a masterful job of explaining the science behind the vaccines while unfurling a vivid story full of exceptional characters locked in a thrilling competition to do nothing less than try and save the world. It's a gripping tale of what happens when unlikely heroes battle through extraordinary circumstances.” — Ashlee Vance, author of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, And The Quest For A Fantastic Future
"Borrell focuses…on political and turf wars and the uneven federal response to the pandemic, highlighted by the Hunger Games-esque competition among states for necessary supplies, and the lack of federal guidelines and high-level role-modeling for the wearing of masks…[A] dramatic and fast-moving tale of the outbreak response and vaccine development." — Washington Post
“[For his] tale of America’s pandemic response…Borrell had great access inside the Trump administration, and there are juicy details.” — New York Times Book Review
"Borrell’s gripping, behind-the-scenes look at the race for a COVID vaccine reads like a thriller. But it’s also a stunning look at politics, greed, ego – and scientific brilliance, from the arduous task of production, then testing, to decisions about who gets immunized first.” — People
"Borrell’s book shines in his absorbing account of how, against the odds, the government-backed public–private vaccine-development plan—Operation Warp Speed—arose from the primordial sludge of pandemic policymaking inside the Trump White House.” — Nature
“A vivid portrait of the combination of drudgery, greed, legerdemain, and brilliance that made the vaccines a reality in record time… a meticulous, thrilling account.” — Kirkus Reviews, * starred* review
"Brendan Borrell’s engaging, often intriguing study – involving an epic cast of characters and a complex list of companies and organizations – captures the combination of urgency and often shambolic politics of what was a global effort….There’s a real fly-on-the-wall sense of immediacy to his portrait of the time." — Sydney Morning Herald
“Relying on extensive firsthand sources, Borrell has produced a readable and detailed early account of developing and implementing [the Covid] vaccines….Clashes of egos and the potential prestige and profits involved in being the first to succeed produce a story that reads like a thriller.” — Library Journal
"A powerful behind-the-scenes look at Operation Warp Speed . . . a page-turning introduction to a key part of the pandemic." — Publishers Weekly , *starred* review
“Just like the COVID vaccine that went into your arm and mine, this book is an astonishingly powerful synthesis of intelligence, exertion, and speed. Brendan Borrell has written a compelling, up-to-the-minute chronicle of a pivotal moment in the history of science. You will learn something new on every page of The First Shots .” — Dan Fagin, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation
"In The First Shots , Brendan Borrell delivers a riveting, sometimes startling, sometimes chilling page-turner of a book. But this tale of the Covid-19 pandemic and the race to find vaccines to stop it is more than a good read. It's also a remarkable illumination of the politics, the personalities, and the human drama underlying a desperate scientific fight against an invisible enemy.”
"Just like the covid vaccine that went into your arm and mine, this book is an astonishingly powerful synthesis of intelligence, exertion, and speed. Brendan Borrell has written a compelling, up-to-the-minute chronicle of a pivotal moment in the history of science. You will learn something new on every page of The First Shots ."
11/19/2021
The story of the remarkable achievement of producing safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 in less than a year is increasingly obscured by political controversy. Journalist Borrell (The Atlantic , National Geographic ) illuminates the story from the U.S. perspective, beginning in Wuhan, China, and continuing through the initial stages of deployment. There was no shortage of drama as scientists, corporations, politicians, and career government employees struggled to come together to combat the pandemic. Some of the players had been working on important aspects of the science for years, leading to the use of mRNA as the key component of the first two successful vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Borrell reports the perspectives of key players in the corporations, the HHS, NIH, FDA, CDC, the military, and Operation Warp Speed. Clashes of egos and the potential prestige and profits involved in being the first to succeed produce a story that reads like a thriller. Inside sources reveal missteps, reversals, conflicts, disappointments and triumphs as career officials and scientists work sometimes in tandem with each other, politicians, and the White House, and sometimes in conflict. VERDICT Relying on extensive firsthand sources, Borrell has produced a readable and detailed early account of developing and implementing vaccines.—Richard Maxwell, Porter Adventist Hosp. Lib., Denver
★ 2021-08-25
Governments often dithered, but scientists and entrepreneurs were on the ball. Outside magazine correspondent Borrell delivers a vivid portrait of the combination of drudgery, greed, legerdemain, and brilliance that made the vaccines a reality in record time. The arrival of the pandemic in the U.S. in January 2020 galvanized America’s public health establishment and a dozen pharmaceutical companies ranging from aggressive startups such as Moderna to international behemoths like Pfizer. All were aware that developing a vaccine is horrendously expensive and risky but that governments were eager to make every effort to ensure success. Still, the path remained bumpy. The old method of growing viruses in large stainless-steel vats was facing a new technology in which a vaccine consisted of bits of viral RNA that activate the body’s immune response equally well. New or old, it had to work, and Borrell offers a meticulous, thrilling account of the testing process. First, researchers tested lab animals to determine if the vaccine protected them from the virus. It did. Then human volunteers received it to find a proper dose and check for side effects. Only then were thousands given either vaccine or placebo and then watched for months. Some vaccines flopped, but the best provided more than 90% protection. Led by Lawrence Wright’s The Plague Year , most Covid books emphasize chaotic, self-serving politics and the pandemic’s devastation, a dismal one-two punch. Borrell does not ignore ignorant or apathetic leaders, but by concentrating on the vaccines, he tells a story with a happy ending—at least as of May 2021, when his account ends. Drawing on extensive interviews, the author uncovers heroes and villains, works hard, if not always successfully, to explain virology and vaccine technology for a lay readership, and excels in recounting the cutthroat pharmaceutical world in which the process of developing a vaccine can bring riches or bankruptcy.
An exciting, readable exploration of an extraordinary scientific breakthrough.
Brendan Borrell has delivered the definitive account of the race to develop and manufacture the vaccines needed to combat Covid-19. The book does a masterful job of explaining the science behind the vaccines while unfurling a vivid story full of exceptional characters locked in a thrilling competition to do nothing less than try and save the world. It's a gripping tale of what happens when unlikely heroes battle through extraordinary circumstances.”
"Brendan Borrell’s engaging, often intriguing study – involving an epic cast of characters and a complex list of companies and organizations – captures the combination of urgency and often shambolic politics of what was a global effort….There’s a real fly-on-the-wall sense of immediacy to his portrait of the time."
"For decades we’ll be studying where our country succeeded and how it faltered in its fight against the worst pandemic in 100 years. In his vivid account of the tumultuous journey toward developing a coronavirus vaccine, Brendan Borrell offers immediate and hugely valuable insights. Beyond the chaotic politics, clashing egos and erratic logistics were unprecedented scientific achievements. Those audacious efforts, and the people behind them, come fully to life in Borrell’s absorbing narrative."
[For his] tale of America’s pandemic response…Borrell had great access inside the Trump administration, and there are juicy details.
New York Times Book Review
"Borrell focuses…on political and turf wars and the uneven federal response to the pandemic, highlighted by the Hunger Games-esque competition among states for necessary supplies, and the lack of federal guidelines and high-level role-modeling for the wearing of masks…[A] dramatic and fast-moving tale of the outbreak response and vaccine development."
"Borrell’s book shines in his absorbing account of how, against the odds, the government-backed public–private vaccine-development plan—Operation Warp Speed—arose from the primordial sludge of pandemic policymaking inside the Trump White House.”
"Borrell’s gripping, behind-the-scenes look at the race for a COVID vaccine reads like a thriller. But it’s also a stunning look at politics, greeds, ego – and scientific brilliance, from the arduous task of production, then testing, to decisions about who gets immunized first.”
"Borrell’s book shines in his absorbing account of how, against the odds, the government-backed public–private vaccine-development plan—Operation Warp Speed—arose from the primordial sludge of pandemic policymaking inside the Trump White House.”
"Borrell focuses…on political and turf wars and the uneven federal response to the pandemic, highlighted by the Hunger Games-esque competition among states for necessary supplies, and the lack of federal guidelines and high-level role-modeling for the wearing of masks…[A] dramatic and fast-moving tale of the outbreak response and vaccine development."
