The Vaccine Race

Science, Politics, and the Human Costs of Defeating Disease

By: Meredith Wadman

Narrated by: Nancy Linari

"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.

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.

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.

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.

Very interesting book

Lots of great info on how vaccines were made and the politics involved. I really enjoyed the book.

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.