The Vaccine Race

It is a thriller - a beautifully researched and paced thriller - and is destined to be a classic piece of science writing in its navigation of the nexus of personality, research and ethics. – Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with the Amber EyesAn extraordinary story and Wadman is to be congratulated, not just for uncovering it but for relaying it in such a pacy, stimulating manner. This is a first-class piece of science writing’ – Robin McKie * Observer *Extraordinary…The Vaccine Race is a tremendous feat of research and synthesis, its lucid technical explanations combined with forays into the business politics of big pharma, and portraits of the scientists whose work has saved untold lives. – Steven Poole * Daily Telegraph *Marvellous…fascinating…Wadman doesn’t shy away from some very difficult and unpleasant truths…The Vaccine Race bears comparison with Richard Rhodes’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb. I can pay no higher compliment to Meredith Wadman and her fine book – Manjit Kumar * The Literary Review *Wadman’s brilliantly researched book unfolds like a thriller, but asks some tough ethical questions along the way. – Sophie Ratcliffe, Associate Professor of English Literature, Oxford UniversityA riveting tale of scientific infighting, clashing personalities, sketchy ethics and the transformation of cell biology from a sleepy scientific backwater to a high-stakes arena where vast fortunes are made. * Wall Street Journal *Riveting… invites comparison to Rebecca Skloot’s 2007 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks… Wadman stands back from the sources and material to guide the reader through a narrative that is no less captivating. * Nature *Epically readable - superb – Chris van TullekenMeticulously researched… a success story for grown-ups… plenty of ammunition for those arguing with family or Facebook friends who have swallowed the conspiracy theories of the anti-vaccination community – Sheena Cruickshank * New Scientist *Superb … It is a tale – told with pace and authority – of theft, evasion, deceit and obdurate overregulation – Robin McKie * Observer, Books of the Year *Meticulously researched and carefully crafted … The Vaccine Race, is an enlightening telling of the development of vaccines in the mid-20th century… . an intelligent and entertaining tome … [and] a comprehensive portrait of the many issues faced in the race to develop vaccines. * Science *Explains complex science in methodical detail. * Mail on Sunday *Excellent… an important story, well told * The Scotsman *The Vaccine Race is an important read—for scientists, politicians, physicians, parents and everyone interested in how the world of medical research works… it is so important to read this book, to see how science works and how politics can and does interfere with what science does best and what is best for us. * Huffington Post *An exemplary piece of medical journalism, and Wadman makes strikingly clear the human costs of medical developments as well as the roles of politics and economics. * Publishers Weekly *

Meredith Wadman, MD, has a long profile as a medical reporter and has covered biomedical research politics from Washington, DC, for twenty years. She has written for Nature, Fortune, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. A graduate of Stanford University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she began medical school at the University of British Columbia and completed medical school as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. She is an Editorial Fellow at New America, a DC think tank.