AUDIOBOOK
A Shot to Save the World
The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine
Gregory Zuckerman4
(2)
About
The authoritative account of the race to produce the vaccine that is saving us all, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Man Who Solved the Market
In January 2020, vaccine research was at an ebb. Neither US-based Moderna or German BioNTech had ever produced an approved vaccine, despite bold claims about cutting-edge mRNA technology. Once-hot startups Moderna and Novavax saw their stock prices reach all-time lows. Since the AIDS epidemic, ambitious scientists had embarked on frustrating experiments to prove that mRNA could trigger an immune response in the body to protect against HIV, Ebola, and other diseases, but skepticism was still high.
Then Covid-19 hit, and everything changed. As the infection rate surged around the world, an unlikely group of heroes emerged, misfit nerds hurled into a life-or-death battle against both the virus and rival scientists gunning to make the first breakthrough. Millions of lives depended on their success.
A Shot to Save the World is the heart-pounding story of scientists' sprint for the COVID-19 vaccine, fulfilling decades of unheralded work on mRNA and immunology. Like no other author, Zuckerman takes us inside the top-secret laboratories and government negotiations that determined the trajectory of the pandemic. Deeply reported and endlessly gripping, this is a dazzling record of scientific ingenuity, a blow-by-blow chronicle of the most consequential innovation of our time.
In January 2020, vaccine research was at an ebb. Neither US-based Moderna or German BioNTech had ever produced an approved vaccine, despite bold claims about cutting-edge mRNA technology. Once-hot startups Moderna and Novavax saw their stock prices reach all-time lows. Since the AIDS epidemic, ambitious scientists had embarked on frustrating experiments to prove that mRNA could trigger an immune response in the body to protect against HIV, Ebola, and other diseases, but skepticism was still high.
Then Covid-19 hit, and everything changed. As the infection rate surged around the world, an unlikely group of heroes emerged, misfit nerds hurled into a life-or-death battle against both the virus and rival scientists gunning to make the first breakthrough. Millions of lives depended on their success.
A Shot to Save the World is the heart-pounding story of scientists' sprint for the COVID-19 vaccine, fulfilling decades of unheralded work on mRNA and immunology. Like no other author, Zuckerman takes us inside the top-secret laboratories and government negotiations that determined the trajectory of the pandemic. Deeply reported and endlessly gripping, this is a dazzling record of scientific ingenuity, a blow-by-blow chronicle of the most consequential innovation of our time.