Disease X: The 100 Days Mission to End Pandemics

by Kate Kelland, Tony Blair (foreword)

What if the next global pandemic isn’t a replay of COVID-19, but something faster, deadlier, and harder to stop? In 2018, the World Health Organization added a chilling new entry to its list of priority epidemic “Disease X” — a placeholder for the unknown pathogen that could trigger a serious international outbreak.

In Disease X, science journalist and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) insider Kate Kelland takes you behind the scenes of pandemic preparedness, global health security and vaccine innovation. With rare access to the people building the world’s defences, Kelland shows how we can spot a new virus early, respond at pandemic speed, and deliver safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines in as little as 100 days.

This is gripping pandemic nonfiction that reads with the urgency of a medical thriller, but it’s grounded in evidence, history, and the hard lessons of the COVID-19 exponential spread, R0, variants, overwhelmed hospitals, lockdowns, and the staggering human and economic costs.

Inside, you’ll

Why emerging infectious diseases and zoonotic spillover (from bats, birds, primates and other wildlife) make future epidemics more SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika, Nipah, Marburg, Lassa, bird flu and swine flu

How pandemic response fails when leaders “wait and see,” and how it succeeds when decision‑makers act fast through the fog of war

The 100 Days a bold roadmap to compress vaccine R&D from genetic sequencing to clinical trials, manufacturing scale‑up and rapid rollout

The technologies powering next‑generation vaccines and mRNA, viral vectors, plug‑and‑play platforms, rapid testing, and global genomic surveillance

Why speed requires funding multiple candidates “at risk,” accepting failures, and building a portfolio—because luck is not a strategy

The essentials of outbreak early warning systems, data sharing, public‑private partnerships, supply chains, equitable access, and protecting low‑ and middle‑income countries

You’ll also meet the real-world pandemic worriers, virus-watchers, scientists and policy insiders who helped launch fast vaccine programmes and the global push for a prototype vaccine library — work designed to shorten the time from pathogen discovery to protection.

Structured as a mission‑ready playbook (Prepare to be Scared, Move Fast, Take Risks, Share, Listen, Fail, Spend Money, and more), Disease X lays out what must change now — before the next Public Health Emergency of International Concern becomes a once‑again‑too‑late pandemic. It closes with a vivid near‑future scenario in which the world faces a new threat…and proves that pandemics can be prevented.

From the first reports of “mysterious pneumonia” in Wuhan to Davos boardrooms and vaccine labs, and to the WHO’s emergency debates under the International Health Regulations, Kelland maps the decisions that shape when to sound the alarm, when to restrict travel and gatherings, when to deploy diagnostics, when to share sequences, and when to pour money into vaccine manufacturing, cold‑chain logistics and global delivery.

If you’re looking for a clear, compelling pandemic preparedness book that connects the science (immunology, vaccinology, epidemiology) with the politics (health security is national security, gl

194 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2025

Reviews

[Maxwell Barmack · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was 90% an explanation of how the world should prepare to fight future pandemics and 10% a fictionalized account of a successful response to a future pandemic given the recommendations previously outlined. The fictionalized account was an interesting and effective way to tie the authors key arguments together, and was, by far, my favorite part of the book.

There is a fine line between optimism and burying your head in the sand, and, for me, this book strayed into unattainable territory too often. Many of the changes to our global health system proposed by Kelland seem unlikely given global sentiments about vaccination and public health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. I get that the goal of this book was to outline the world as it could be, not as it is. But the impact of this book was weakened by the minimal attention paid to significant barriers to change.

[Kevin Postlewaite · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not the book I thought it would be. Caveat: I only skimmed.

I expected this to be a book that laid out a detailed program designed to address technical issues to enable the world to bring into being a vaccine within 100 days of encountering a new pandemic-potential virus. This is not that book. This book talks about the history of CEPI, its personnel, the world's reaction to COVID-19 and a speculative reaction to a future pandemic if the technical program (not detailed) is put into place. This book is for those looking for a well-written character driven account of pandemic response. But not those interested in a detailed understanding of the problems to be addressed to achieve what CEPI says is needed.

[Mirjam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved!

[Pacdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first chapters tend to become quite repetitive and could have been significantly shortened (in my opinion). The last chapter was very interesting and I would have hoped for more of this.