A pacy, real-life page-turner by Reuters journalist on the global
100-days mission to identify and catch the next virus outbreak,
codenamed DISEASE X, before it spreads worldwide.
With a foreword written by former British Prime Minister, Sir Tony
Blair, DISEASE X is a must-read, fast-paced, almost-real-time account of
how international scientists and global public health leaders are
preparing the world to be able to contain outbreaks of new and
re-emerging infectious diseases before they spawn deadly global
contagions like Covid-19.
DISEASE X is the codename given by the World Health Organisation to a
pathogen currently unknown to science that could cause havoc to
humankind. Emerging infections are sending us multiple warnings that
another Disease X is looming. We've had SARS in 2002, H5N1 bird flu in
2004, H1N1 'swine flu' in 2009, MERS in 2012, Ebola in 2014, Zika in
2015 and now COVID-19. These events are not freak events, but are
happening continually, and at an increasing cadence.
Written by a long-standing ex-Reuters global health and science
correspondent, Kate Kelland, DISEASE X uses privileged access to the
body leading international efforts to control viral outbreaks, the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and its CEO, Dr
Richard Hatchett. CEPI seed-funded three successful COVID vaccines,
including the AstraZeneca and Moderna shots. Weaving in insights from
the likes of Bill Gates, Erna Solberg, Jeremy Farrar and Seth Berkley,
DISEASE X explores the the emergence of the novel coronavirus and the
deadly crisis it caused. It analyses the responses of global health
organisations and experts, including the WHO; national governments in
Britain, China and the USA; COVAX, the global vaccine allocation
facility; pharmaceutical companies; and leading research scientists.
Ultimately, DISEASE X is a story of hope. It tells of how, throughout
the devastation of Covid, science and human ingenuity have shown that
the world can devise intricate new weapons at breath-taking pace against
deadly diseases it has never encountered before. It also tells how the
world's public health scientists are embarking on a 100 Days Mission to
embed that scientific progress into a pandemic-busting plan to defuse
future threats from as-yet-unknown pathogens in a little over three
months. This is the 100 Days Mission - backed by the G7 and G20 - that
will see a newly prepared world, one that can move at speed to snuff out
future threats before they become deadly pandemics.
