A Shot to Save the World

''Thrilling, inspiring and informative page-turner.'' Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker

You know what went wrong.

This is the untold story of what went right.

Few were ready when a mysterious respiratory illness emerged in Wuhan, China, in January 2020. Politicians, government officials, business leaders and public-health professionals were unprepared for the most devastating pandemic in a century. Many of the world''s biggest drug and vaccine makers were slow to react or couldn''t muster an effective response.

It was up to a small group of unlikely and untested scientists and executives to save civilization. A French businessman dismissed by many as a fabulist. A Turkish immigrant with little virus experience. A quirky Midwesterner obsessed with insect cells. A Boston scientist employing questionable techniques. A British scientist resented by his peers. Far from the limelight, each had spent years developing innovat