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The Vaccine Race
The Vaccine Race: Science, Politics, and the Human Costs of Defeating Disease | Meredith Wadman
9 posts | 4 read | 14 to read
Riveting . . . [The Vaccine Race] invites comparison with Rebecca Skloot's 2007 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.Nature This is a story about the war against diseasea war without endand 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 bestselling author of The Great Influenza 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 Wadmans 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 imperiling pregnant women on the rise today, no medical story could have more human drama, impact, or urgency today than The Vaccine Race.
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LibrarianRyan
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Shot number 2 is in the bag. Now I wait. Thank goodness I brought a book. 😁❤️🩹🩸🦠

vivastory 👏👏🎊 3y
Gissy Good!🤗 3y
Roary47 I had to sleep the entire next day. I hope your symptoms are few so you can enjoy your book! 💛 3y
See All 9 Comments
Monica5 I had body aches and slept after my second shot. Hope your symptoms are light😊 3y
LibrarianRyan @Roary47 @Monica5 I was a little off the first few hours after. Week was in my arms and upset stomach but I seem okay. I have to go to work tomorrow no matter what (we have a big grant meeting). Plus I tore my big toenail out over the weekend so I‘m already tired and in pain. So I might not notice the difference. 3y
Roary47 I hope all is well. 3y
ValerieAndBooks How are you now? Well, I hope. Had my first shot yesterday. 3y
LibrarianRyan @ValerieAndBooks pretty good. My arm was sore for about a week after my second shot. Not bad but some. As for my toe. Still waiting for the mail to fall off. Any day now bits gross. 3y
ValerieAndBooks @LibrarianRyan aww, I understand about the toenail. My daughter is a ballet dancer and sometimes her big toe will land hard enough for it to bruise and cause a nail to fall off. It‘s definitely gross and cringeworthy. 3y
87 likes9 comments
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BookishMarginalia
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We got our first shot of the Moderna vaccine 💉 yesterday afternoon! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 #TeachersofLitsy #pandemiclife

bnp Congratulations! 3y
Lcsmcat Yay! 3y
AmyG Yay! 🎉 3y
See All 17 Comments
ravenlee Woohoo! 3y
marleed Congratulations! 3y
Cathythoughts Great 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 3y
Garabrandtreviews Yay! Got mine last week 3y
Gissy Nice!🎉🎉🎉 3y
TrishB Cool 👍🏻 3y
LeahBergen Yesss! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 3y
eraderneely 👏🏼 3y
NikkiM5 Yay 😃 3y
Tera66 Yay!!💖 3y
Lreads 💕👏👏 3y
rachelsbrittain Ahh congrats!! 3y
maich 👏👏👏 3y
142 likes17 comments
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CocoReads
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#notbookrelated as most of you know, I‘ve been getting my vaccine for Covid. I received my second dose last night and although I feel ok, I definitely feel worse than after the first one. This time in addition to my arm being sore, I woke up with a headache and upset stomach, and my joints were a little achy. Honestly I cannot say that‘s all vaccine related but I can‘t say it‘s not either. 👇

CocoReads I am prone to headaches and my stomach always gets queasy when my sinuses are draining. I‘m going to guess it‘s a mild reaction to the vaccine or maybe a combo of the two. The headache and stomach ache were gone by lunch though. I‘m still a little achy though but if that‘s the worst, I‘ll take it. I did pregame with 1000 mg of Tylenol though. It may not have helped, but it definitely didn‘t hurt. 3y
CocoReads One of my coworkers however, did have a more significant reaction and called off. All the same symptoms as me plus a fever. I texted her at lunchtime and the fever was down but she was still feeling pretty icky. 3y
AmyG I have heard, with the second Pfizer dose, it‘s 24 hours of feeling crappy. Hang in and hope you feel better tomorrow. (edited) 3y
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CocoReads @AmyG I‘ve heard that too. I‘m feeling lucky that I only feel a little bit off, and hoping it‘s no worse than that. 3y
vivastory I've heard that if you get the vaccine in your dominant arm that helps with the pain. I received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine last Thr & didn't have any issues with it. I know a couple of people in the vaccine clinic I was assisting with last Thr & Fri had minor side effects, but these issues passed within 10-15 minutes. 3y
AmyG @vivastory I was told that, too. I got mine 12/30. My arm was a little bit sore. I had the Moderna vaccine and had one day of being very tired. (edited) 3y
CocoReads @vivastory excellent. I did my non dominant arm (which is my right one), that‘s where I always get my flu shot too. Most I know aren‘t having too many issues either so I think it‘ll all be fine. Glad you had a good experience! (edited) 3y
dariazeoli Hope you feel better soon! Thanks for sharing your experience, it helps anxious folks like me! 3y
CocoReads @dariazeoli that is why I shared. There‘s so much info and rumors swirling around, it‘s hard to know what to do or believe. 3y
Scochrane26 I just had a friend tell me that the 2nd dose made him sick for about a day. He didn‘t have a problem w/ the first, so now I‘m expecting to be sick for my next one. 3y
CocoReads @Scochrane26 I definitely expected so@e side effects from this second one, the only problem I had with the first was a sore arm. I‘m hoping to see my friend Justin because I think he got his second one last week but he said the first one made him sick too. So I wonder how the second made him feel. 3y
Scochrane26 @CocoReads my friend & I got ours the same day. She got a little sick, but I was fine. I‘m interested to see how we both react to the 2nd dose. 3y
Elizabeth2 Glad you‘ve gotten the second dose! A friend of mine was told when she scheduled her second dose to make sure she takes off work the following day and to expect to not feel well. My brother has had the first dose and had no issues other than a sore arm. He has his appointment for the second dose and was not told to take off the day after - they didn‘t mention anything like that to him. 3y
The_Penniless_Author Thanks for sharing! This tracks with my friend's experience as well - first shot, nothing but a sore arm, but after the second shot he got a really nasty headache, like migraine-level bad, along with an upset stomach. Then after a few hours it just went away, all of a sudden. 3y
50 likes14 comments
review
Lalalauren
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Overall really good book, full of information. However, it jumps around a lot, it probably would‘ve been better to make it into multiple books to avoid jumping around and getting confusing.

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shanaqui
Pickpick

Well worth it, though a little disorganised at times -- E.g. The long digressions about the WI-38 cell line. Important to the making of vaccines, but sometimes it felt like the book was really meant to be about WI-38 and it was the vaccines that were second billing.

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shanaqui

Enjoying this a lot. Especially since I'm doing lab work at the moment!

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Ja_Mez
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Mehso-so

Great in terms of content. A bit boring in terms of writing. Definitely worth asking yourself if you know the true history of how vaccines are made. Regardless, would that stop you?

#bookstagram #booksandcoffee #instabooks #books #bookreview

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MrBook
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#TBRtemptation post! A sequel of sorts for "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". This book centers around the rubella/German measles vaccine, which has saved over 150 million lives alone. A Philly scientist used fetal stem cells from Sweden to create the vaccine. Those cells created vaccines for polio, hepatitis A, chicken pox, etc. Testing was done on infants, the handicapped, etc. MW recounts the times & struggles. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook ?

LitsyGoesPostal 😊👍🏻 7y
84 likes12 stack adds1 comment
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Icefireski
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I won books! Yay. Was a nice surprise in the mailbox. Thanks to Viking Press and Penguin Random House