On the Bookshelf: "The First Shots" by Brendan Borrell

Having lived through the COVID-19 pandemic on the frontlines, some may choose not to read about it. However, while individual experiences share touchpoints, each is still unique. In The First Shots:The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine, Brendan Borrell focuses on vaccine development beginning in January 2020 and reports events through January 2021. Particularly interesting is “Part 1: Emergence,” which covers January to March 2020, because while this was a time when the public was just becoming aware of COVID-19, as Borrell describes, vaccine development was already underway.

“Part 2: Lockdown” follows the period from March to May 2020, and “Part 3: Testing” takes readers from May through October 2020. In each of these periods, Borrell describes firsthand accounts of related, but non-vaccine, issues, such as masking and convalescent plasma. The book culminates with “Part 4: Rollout,” which covers October 2020 to January 2021.

Borrell’s account is unique for the number of interviews in and around the highest levels of decision-making, including people in the White House, FDA, CDC, and at the companies whose vaccines were the first to be approved. Traveling to Washington, D.C., during 2020 and 2021, Borrell interviewed more than 100 people to write this D.C.-based account of what was happening.

You will share touchpoints in this story, but you are also likely to learn something new.

Find out more or get the book:

• Barnes & Noble
• Amazon
• Harper Collins