BOOK REVIEW : The First Shots by Brendan Borrell Mariner Books ( October 26 , 2021 )
reviewed by JOHN DAVID KOLTER , MD
The COVID-19 pandemic remains ever-present in our daily work as physicians , even as mask mandates melt under judicial action and vaccine hesitancy has turned to vaccine apathy . In a remarkably short amount of time , the nearly miraculous introduction of mRNA vaccines to the market seems to have become yesterday ’ s news . In his first book , The First Shots , widely published magazine correspondent and author , Brendan Borrell , reintroduces us to the early days of the pandemic and the urgency for a vaccine , with a remarkably sourced and detailed account of what was known as Operation Warp Speed . Having honed his skills as a journalist , Mr . Borrell constructs a cohesive narrative from a broad cache of characters . While the outcome of Operation Warp Speed is well known , Mr . Borrell ’ s account deftly displays the good borne from human cooperation and ingenuity that often , simultaneously , is hindered by ego and self-interest .
The book opens with a covert air , detailing the transport of the first samples of COVID-19 aspirated from a patient in the Wuhan City Hospital ICU to a microbiologist Yong-Zhen Zhang in Shanghai . Dr . Zhang was widely regarded by colleagues , having “ demonstrated China ’ s scientific competency on the world stage ” during his career . In his lab , Dr . Zhang isolated coronavirus RNA in the sample but was not permitted to share the sequence abroad due to the Chinese government ’ s initial reluctance to share information beyond its borders . Once the WHO announced China was investigating an outbreak , Dr . Zhang was immediately pressured to release the RNA sequence of the virus by some in his international cohort of colleagues . Faced with this pressure for the public good , before the first case had hit American shores , he ultimately , notably and nobly , acquiesced and emailed the sequence to a colleague in Australia . The email was immediately passed along to another colleague in Scotland , who then posted the sequence on the website www . virological . org . While Zhang was harshly reprimanded by the Chinese government for the release , the sequence spread rapidly on numerous platforms and the world began “ traveling at the speed of science ,” as one commentator posted .
Mr . Borrell recounts the eight-month process from RNA sequence to vaccine in chronological order , allowing the reader to relive those days bit by bit , both with events well reported in the news cycle and through conversations and events little known to the general public . While the reader may recall exactly where they were and when a certain event happened during the vaccine saga , Mr . Borrell ’ s detailed account enhances those memories and recollections .
18 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE