The Vaccine Race

Science, Politics, and the Human Costs of Defeating Disease

By: Meredith Wadman

Narrated by: Nancy Linari

Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

"A real jewel of science history...brims with suspense and now-forgotten catastrophe and intrigue.... Wadman’s smooth prose calmly spins a surpassingly complicated story into a real tour de force." (The New York Times)

“Riveting...[The Vaccine Race] invites comparison with Rebecca Skloot's 2007 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” (Nature)  

The epic and controversial story of a major breakthrough in cell biology that led to the conquest of rubella and other devastating diseases. 

Until the late 1960s, tens of thousands of American children suffered crippling birth defects if their mothers had been exposed to rubella, popularly known as German measles, while pregnant; there was no vaccine and little understanding of how the disease devastated fetuses. In June 1962, a young biologist in Philadelphia, using tissue extracted from an aborted fetus from Sweden, produced safe, clean cells that allowed the creation of vaccines against rubella and other common childhood diseases. Two years later, in the midst of a devastating German measles epidemic, his colleague developed the vaccine that would one day wipe out homegrown rubella. The rubella vaccine and others made with those fetal cells have protected more than 150 million people in the United States, the vast majority of them preschoolers. The new cells and the method of making them also led to vaccines that have protected billions of people around the world from polio, rabies, chicken pox, measles, hepatitis A, shingles and adenovirus. 

Meredith Wadman's masterful account recovers not only the science of this urgent race, but also the political roadblocks that nearly stopped the scientists. She describes the terrible dilemmas of pregnant women exposed to German measles and recounts testing on infants, prisoners, orphans, and the intellectually disabled, which was common in the era. These events take place at the dawn of the battle over using human fetal tissue in research, during the arrival of big commerce in campus labs, and as huge changes take place in the laws and practices governing who "owns" research cells and the profits made from biological inventions. It is also the story of yet one more unrecognized woman whose cells have been used to save countless lives. 

With another frightening virus - measles - on the rise today, no medical story could have more human drama, impact, or urgency than The Vaccine Race. 

©2017 Meredith Wadman (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"This is a story about the war against disease - a war without end - and the development of enormously important vaccines, but in telling that story, in showing how science works, Meredith Wadman reveals much more. I loved this book." (John M. Barry, New York Times best-selling author of The Great Influenza)

Must read for parents!

To me this is one of the best books any parent can read. There’s so much fear being spread online that it’s hard to separate fact from fiction. This is the history of vaccines and why these particular ones were chosen. It’s not full of fear. It’s the history and allows a parent to have actual information and draw their own conclusions. As a parent I wish I had read this book much sooner. I have a much better understanding of vaccines which helped me make a responsible decision for my children. This is an accessible book that’s understandable for the average person.

Tried to cover too much ground

Wish it were more focused with shorter narratives. Long winded chronological tiny details and unfocused narratives are really hard to follow when driving.

Too much detail

I bought this based on a favorable NY TImes review, but found it too bogged down in repetitive detail to get through. There's a lot of information about the science of vaccine development but it ranged too widely to develop a compelling narrative.

A Truly Fascinating Story

This book is a wonderful history and story.

The level of scientific exploration, work, and drive that it takes for dedicated researchers to come up with a vaccine is wonderfully woven into the history, personal accounts, and cost of disease outbreaks and their harm.

To those who doubt the power and safety of vaccines, listen to the book. To those who doubt their effectiveness and impact on human health and relief if of suffering within your lifetime, listen to the book. To those who want to know what it takes to develop and make a vaccine for the planet, whether a scientist, scientifically inclined, or not, listen to the book. You will NOT be disappointed.

The performance was high quality. My only small notes were that the narrator’s voice, on occasion, sounds like a GPS and there were occasional mispronunciation of scientific terms.

Wonderful

This book is well researched, well written, and exciting. The story of virology and the 20th century remains fascinating. It revolves more around the personalities making the discoveries then the science itself. However, that is not a negative as the stories are so interesting. Vaccination and clean water are there two great sabers of human life and the 20th century.

Great information

Wonderful read and very insightful. Provides rarely known details about the way science works and also helps everyone understand the necessity of some choices.

Fantastic book and excellent reader

Would you consider the audio edition of The Vaccine Race to be better than the print version?

no

What about Nancy Linari’s performance did you like?

The performance was excellent. It wasn't flat but also didn't distract from the book. Just the right amount of emotion. The reader's voice is pleasant and enjoyable to listen to.

Any additional comments?

I don't typically read books that have a big science component because, although I believe in the importance of science, I have little background in it and my lazy brain usually has a hard time paying attention and following what's being discussed. I'm glad I made an exception with this fantastic book, however. To begin with, even though the book does cover a lot of scientific ground, the writer explains everything so clearly and simply that I actually understood all of it and maybe even retained some of it. Besides that, this is a book not only about science but also about politics, ethics, history, economics, and most interestingly (at least to me) the complexities of human nature and how it can get the best of even tho most brilliant among us. Wadman weaves all the skeins together with a masterful blend of storytelling skill, knowledge, compassion, and here and there a welcome touch of humor. Whether she's writing about a top scientist or a child afflicted by rubella, you feel that each person in the book is real and multi-dimensional. I came away from the book with a chilling new awareness of how much politics can affect the way medical advances are translated (or not) into actual therapies and a sense of how limited we all are by our circumstances and our selves.

Exceptional...truly exceptional...

This is not my normal pick up book but it was recommended to me by my sister. It is extremely easy to understand despite the "science". Moreover, it is a book that maps out, even to the epilogue, the main players and the humanity of the vaccine culture we live in. I recommend it without hesitation.

A great and enjoyable book for scientists and non-scientists

I work in vaccines as a clinical researcher and have heard or met some of the people featured here. I thoroughly enjoyed and learned from this book. It reads like a detective book with interesting facts about politics, human behaviors and science. The stories of people affected by the lack of vaccines are the most important reminder of why we need vaccines.

A bit dull

This is of course packed with research but mostly the type like “he said, she said”. I was expecting more interesting stories, more drama. Microbe hunters is tons cooler if you’re interested in the topic.