• The First Shots

  • The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine
  • By: Brendan Borrell
  • Narrated by: Dan Woren
  • Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 rating)

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The First Shots

By: Brendan Borrell
Narrated by: Dan Woren
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Publisher's summary

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 thoroughly enjoyable 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.

©2021 Brendan Borrell (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

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Measured and accurate.

I worked in ASPR during the pandemic. This is an accurate depiction of some of the behind the curtain activities. It highlights what Americans can achieve despite the politics.

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