Disease X: The 100 Days Mission to End Pandemics

by Kate Kelland, Tony Blair (Foreword)

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.

192 pages, Hardcover

Published February 2, 2023

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.