Jonas Salk's polio vaccine has taken on an almost legendary quality as a medical miracle, for it largely eradicated one of the most feared diseases of the 20th century. But the story of the vaccine has a dark side, one that has never been fully told before... Between 1954 and 1963, close to 98 million Americans received polio vaccinations contaminated with a carcinogenic monkey virus, now known as SV40. A concerted government effort downplayed the incident, and it was generally accepted that although oncogenic to laboratory animals, SV40 was harmless to humans. But now SV40 in showing up in human cancers, and prominent researchers are demanding a serious public health response to this forgotten polio vaccine contaminant. A gripping medical detective story, The Virus and the Vaccine raises major questions about vaccine policy.

Winners of the Paul Ehrlich Prize The dramatic story of the married scientists who founded BioNTech and developed the first vaccine against COVID-19. Nobody thought it was possible. In mid-January 2020, Ugur Sahin told Özlem Türeci, his wife and decades-long research partner, that a vaccine against what would soon be known as COVID-19 could be developed and safely injected into the arms of millions before the end of the year. His confidence was built upon almost thirty years of research. While working to revolutionize the way that cancerous tumors are treated, the couple had explored a volatile and overlooked molecule called messenger RNA; they believed it could be harnessed to redirect the immune system's forces against any number of diseases. As the founders of BioNTech, they faced widespread skepticism from the scientific community at first; but by the time Sars-Cov-2 was discovered in Wuhan, China, BioNTech was prepared to deploy cutting edge technology and create the world’s first clinically approved inoculation for the coronavirus. The Vaccine draws back the curtain on one of the most important medical breakthroughs of our age; it will reveal how Doctors Sahin and Türeci were able to develop twenty vaccine candidates within weeks, convince Big Pharma to support their ambitious project, navigate political interference from the Trump administration and the European Union, and provide more than three billion doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to countries around the world in record time. Written by Joe Miller—the Financial Times’ Frankfurt correspondent who covered BioNTech’s COVID-19 project in real time—with contributions from Sahin and Türeci, as well as interviews with more than sixty scientists, politicians, public health officials, and BioNTech staff, the book covers key events throughout the extraordinary year, as well as exploring the scientific, economic, and personal background of each medical innovation. Crafted to be both completely accessible to the average reader and filled with details that will fascinate seasoned microbiologists, The Vaccine explains the science behind the breakthrough, at a time when public confidence in vaccine safety and efficacy is crucial to bringing an end to this pandemic.

This short book brings together novel cross-interdisciplinary investigation from both natural and social science, representing a true hybrid across disciplines examining the ‘politics’ and ‘science’ of COVID-19. Viruses, Vaccines, and Antivirals: Why Politics Matters considers the dynamics surrounding viruses, proposed vaccines, and antiviral therapies, contextualizing what governments have done during the COVID-19 crisis. The four basic phases of a pandemic are considered with a strong focus on COVID-19, namely the anticipating and early virus detection, containment strategies, policies to control and mitigate the spread of the virus and policies aimed at opening up society. Viruses, Vaccines, and Antivirals: Why Politics Matters examines policy developments throughout these phases in key nations worldwide and puts forward a blueprint for countries developing public policies to deal with a pandemic.

This book focuses on cell culture-produced viral vaccines to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding research and development in academia and industry in the field. This book introduces the basic principles of vaccination and the manufacturing of viral vaccines. Bioprocessing of Viral Vaccines, will provide an overview of the advanced strategies needed to respond to the challenges of new and established viral infection diseases. The first few chapters cover the basics of virology and immunology as essential concepts to understand the function and design of viral vaccines. The core of the content is dedicated to process development, including upstream processing and cell culture of viral vaccines, downstream processing, and extensive analytical technologies specific to viral vaccines. Advanced process analytical technologies (PAT) and Quality by Design (QbD) concepts are also introduced in the context of vaccine manufacturing. The case studies included cover inactivated, attenuated vaccines exemplified by influenza vaccines, sub-unit vaccines exemplified by Virus Like Particles (VLPs: HPV vaccines) and sub-unit vaccines (Flublock), vectored vaccines: adenoviruses and Vesicular stomatitis Virus (VSV) vectored vaccines, genomic vaccines (DNA and mRNA) vaccines as developed for COVID-19 response in particular and a review of COVID-19 vaccines approved or in advanced clinical trials. This book is aimed at graduate engineers and professionals in the fields of vaccinology, bioprocessing, and biomanufacturing of viral vaccines.

This is one in a series of titles which looks at some key scientific advances of the last century, how they came about, and their repercussions.

Discover the most essential and comprehensive information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, how to ward off infection, and safeguard your mental and physical health during isolation—from the award-winning science journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fast 800 and The FastDiet. Dr. Michael Mosley has experienced the effects of coronavirus firsthand, as he and both his sons—medical professionals in their twenties—all became ill during the height of the pandemic in London. Now recovered, Dr. Mosley shares his insights and explains the science behind the greatest public health crisis of our time. From the emergence of the novel virus in China at the end of 2019 to its rapid worldwide spread, this clear, detailed guide provides you with a basic understanding of the virus, how it jumps from person to person, how it can be overcome, and the most effective ways to protect yourself and your family. Featuring in-depth interviews with leading doctors and virus researchers working on the front lines to defeat this microscopic enemy, COVID-19 also tracks the ongoing developments in finding new treatments and an effective vaccine—the only way to ultimately halt the spread of the virus. Offering highly readable, easy-to-digest information about this global pandemic, Dr. Mosley’s COVID-19 is the ultimate resource to help you feel better informed and take care of yourself as we all work through this global crisis.

COVID-19 outbreak has become a worldwide pandemic. This book “CO-VI-D: Viruses/Vaccines” provides new and unique approach to the discussion of viruses and vaccines in the recent advent of Corona virus. COVID-19 disease is a novel viral disease that was first identified in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced its official name, Coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19; ‘CO’ stands for ‘Corona’, ‘VI’ stands for ‘Virus’, and ‘D’ stands for ‘Disease’. Globally, more than 10 million people are reported to be infected by COVID-19 (WHO Coronavirus Disease Dashboard, 2020). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, USA, 2020) (provided guidelines on how to reduce the risk of infection. It has been discovered that some people get really very sick and die, whereas to some people nothing happens even though they test positive for the virus. Through this book, we intend to explore etiology, development, and treatment of the COVID-19 disease. The specific topics will give details that could help in understanding symptoms, immunity, worldwide spread and treatments so that we could beat this invisible dangerous beast, the COVID-19.