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

The First Shots: The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine by Brendan Borrell

The government helped enable a rapid deployment of a COVID-19 vaccine primarily by getting out of the way. The government showed that it was not prepared to handle a large-scale pandemic. In some cases, the were learning in real time. In other cases, the actions were just plain stupid. They were both too aggressive and too slow to respond. Quarantining people on a cruise ship was a great way to increase spread of the disease. Willy-nilly quarantines did little to slow things down. Knowledge of the outbreak in China was kept under wraps before it "escaped". Previous research into other coronavirus vaccines enabled rapid development of vaccines. However, they refused to allow them to be used under a compassionate use exemption until after trials completed. The government was too concerned with control and perfection. This slowed the rollout of tests and new treatments. If people have a 30% of dying, does it make sense to hold out for something that is only 2% more effective? Then there were state governors with their own policies. Cuomo in New York seemed to be great at helping to maximize the negative impact of the virus. He would force the infected to commingle with the vulnerable and later prefer vaccines to be thrown out rather than be used by people not on the list yet.

The bulk of the book describes government response and Operation WarpSpeed. The rapid production of the vaccine was enabled by the Trump administration. What would have happened with another president at top? Did Trump slow things down? Or did his zaniness help speed up the vaccine release? The "process" seemed to be the biggest slowdown. There was a mix of competition and collaboration that helped bring about the release. Moderna was primarily going within the system. Pfizer tried to do things more on its own. There was also Johnson and Johnson as well as a few others that never quite made it. Are we prepared for the next pandemic?