The Vaccine: Inside the Race to Conquer the COVID-19 Pandemic

Description

When the world stopped, all hopes rested on finding a vaccine. One team answered the call and were ready to act. But how do you develop a life-saving drug when every second counts and one mistake could be catastrophic? Married couple and decades-long research partners Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci did just that within weeks of the pandemic breaking out. From convincing Big Pharma to support their ambitious project, to navigating political interference from the Trump administration and the European Union, the road to producing the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was by no means smooth. But these cutting-edge innovators overcame every obstacle to provide more than two billion doses of the life-saving drug to countries all around the world in record time. The Vaccine draws back the curtain on one of the most important medical breakthroughs of our age, containing contributions from the fascinating couple themselves, as well as more than 50 scientists, politicians, public health officials, and BioNTech staff. Shedding a light on the science behind the breakthrough, The Vaccine tells the story of the trailblazers to whom we all owe a debt of gratitude. More suspenseful than a novel, this is a real-life story of an extraordinary race against time to save the world.

Joe Miller is the Financial Times' Frankfurt correspondent who coveredBioNTech's COVID-19 project in real time, giving him considerableknowledge and expertise on the subject. The book also hasconsiderable contributions from Ugur Sahin and zlem Trecithemselves, giving rare first-person accounts. It contains contributionsfrom more than 50 scientists, politicians, public health officials, andBioNTech staff.

'I have now read the book by Joe Miller about the development of the vaccine at Biontech. Ugur Sahin had already understood the dimension of the pandemic on 24 January. I wasn't that quick' -- Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany 'OEzlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin are rapidly becoming the most celebrated marriage in science since Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radioactivity' * The Times * 'They are the symbol of a remarkable scientific and business success story' * Financial Times (FT People of the Year) * 'The story of their quest to use a novel scientific method to defeat that disease, as well as cancer and others, would suffice to make them heroes of our time' * Bloomberg *