Search:

The first shots : the epic rivalries and heroic science behind the race to the coronavirus vaccine / by Borrell, Brendan Jonathan,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.From Outside magazine correspondent Brendan Borrell comes the full inside story of the high-stakes, global race for the lifesaving vaccine to end the Covid-19 pandemic. HBO is adapting 'The First Shots' as a limited series with superstar director and producer Adam McKay ('Succession', 'Vice', 'The Big Short') at the helm.
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Vaccines.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The vaccine : inside the race to conquer the COVID-19 pandemic / by Miller, Joe(Correspondent),author.; Şahin, Uğur,1965-author.; Türeci, Özlem,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."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"--
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Vaccines.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Pandemic panic : how Canadian government responses to COVID-19 changed civil liberties forever / by Baron, Joanna(Lawyer),author.; Manning, Preston,1942-writer of foreword.; Van Geyn, Christine,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.The COVID-19 pandemic was a huge event-politically, culturally, economically, personally. 'Pandemic Panic' is a vital investigation into the way governments in Canada dealt with the pandemic and is a valuable and detailed mastication into an event that can no longer be swept under the carpet.
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-; COVID-19 vaccines.; Social conflict; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Moonshot : inside Pfizer's nine-month race to make the impossible possible / by Bourla, Albert,author.;
A riveting, fast-paced, inside look at one of the most incredible private sector achievements in history, Moonshot recounts the intensive nine months in 2020 when the scientists at Pfizer, under the visionary leadership of Dr. Albert Bourla, made "the impossible possible"--creating, testing, and manufacturing a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine that previously would have taken years to develop. Dr. Bourla chronicles how the brilliant, dedicated minds at Pfizer, under the enormous strains of the global pandemic, overcame a series of crises that were compounded by social and political unrest, and reveals the doubts, decisions, obstacles, and failures they encountered. As Dr. Bourla makes clear, Pfizer's success wasn't due to luck; it was because of preparation driven by four simple values--Courage, Excellence, Equity, and Joy.
Subjects: Pfizer Inc.; COVID-19 (Disease); Research.; Viral vaccines.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Owning the sun : a people's history of monopoly medicine from aspirin to COVID-19 vaccines / by Zaitchik, Alexander,1974-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Owning the Sun tells the story of one of the most contentious fights in human history: the legal right to control the production of lifesaving medicines. Medical science began as a discipline geared toward the betterment of all human life, but the merging of research with intellectual property and the rise of the pharmaceutical industry warped and eventually undermined its ethical foundations. Since the Second World War, federally funded research has facilitated most major medical breakthroughs, yet these drugs are often wholly controlled by price-gouging corporations with growing international ambitions. Why does the U.S. government fund the development of medical science in the name of the public, only to relinquish exclusive rights to drug companies, and how does such a system impoverish us, weaken our responses to global crises, and, as in the case of AIDS and COVID-19, put the world at risk? Outlining how generations of public health and science advocates have attempted to hold the line against Big Pharma and their allies in government, Alexander Zaitchik's first-in-kind history documents the rise of medical monopoly in the United States and its subsequent globalization. From the controversial arrival of patent-wielding German drug firms in the late nineteenth century, to present-day coordination between industry and philanthropic organizations-including the influential Gates Foundation-that stymie international efforts to vaccinate the world against COVID-19, Owning the Sun tells one of the most important and least understood histories of our time"--
Subjects: Medical care, Cost of; Medicine;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Breathless : the scientific race to defeat a deadly virus / by Quammen, David,1948-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The story of the worldwide scientific quest to decipher the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, trace its source, and make possible the vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic"--
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Why we need vaccines : how humans beat infectious diseases / by Rae, Rowena.; Stampatori, Paige.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Vaccination is one of humanity's most effective and greatest discoveries. Infections like the plague, smallpox and other deadly diseases have affected and killed people for thousands of years, but the invention of vaccines forever changed our relationship with these diseases. More recently the urgency of developing an effective vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic brought vaccination to the public's attention. Simmering tensions around vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and mistrust of science came to the forefront. Although an earlier form of protection against infectious diseases has been practiced for a long time, vaccines have only been around for 200 years. Why We Need Vaccines explores the history of vaccine discovery, the science of how vaccines work and the public-health achievements that vaccines have made possible. It also discusses vaccine mandates and inequality in access to vaccines on local and global scales. It challenges young readers to take responsibility for themselves, their families and their communities so we can all be part of the solution to take down infectious diseases.
Subjects: Vaccination; Vaccination;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Rationality : what it is, why it seems scarce, why it matters / by Pinker, Steven,1954-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Today humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding - and also appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing? In 'Rationality' Steven Pinker explores how the rational pursuit of self-interest, sectarian solidarity, and uplifting mythology can add up to crippling irrationality in a society. Pinker grew up in Montreal, QC.
Subjects: Choice (Psychology); Critical thinking.; Practical reason.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The plague year : America in the time of Covid / by Wright, Lawrence,1947-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, whose best-selling thriller The End of the October all but predicted our current pandemic, comes another momentous account, this time of COVID-19: its origins, its myriad repercussions, and the ongoing fight to contain it. Beginning with the absolutely critical first moments of the outbreak in China, and ending with an epilogue on the vaccine rollout and the unprecedented events between the election of Joseph Biden and his inauguration, Lawrence Wright's The Plague Year surges forward with essential information--and fascinating historical parallels--examining the medical, economic, political, and social ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright takes us inside the CDC, where the first round of faulty test kits cost America precious time; inside the halls of the White House, where Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger's early alarm about the virus was met with great skepticism; into a COVID ward in a Charlottesville hospital, with an idealistic young woman doctor from Little Africa, South Carolina; into the precincts of prediction specialists at Goldman Sachs; and even inside the human body, diving deep into the science of just how the virus and vaccines function, with an eye-opening detour into the history of vaccination and of the modern anti-vaxxer movement. In turns steely eyed, sympathetic, infuriated, comical, and always precise, Wright is a formidable guide, slicing through the dense fog of misinformation to give us a 360-degree portrait of the catastrophe we thought we knew. His full accounting does honor to the medical professionals around the country who've risked their lives to fight the virus, revealing America in all its vulnerability, courage, and potential"--
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); COVID-19 (Disease); COVID-19 (Disease); COVID-19 (Disease);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Women of the pandemic : stories from the frontlines of COVID-19 / by McKeon, Lauren,author.;
"Throughout history, men have fought, lost, and led us through the world's defining crises. That all changed with COVID-19. In Canada, women's presence in the vanguard of the response to the pandemic has been notable. Women are our nurses, doctors, PSWs. Our cashiers, long-haulers, farmers, cooks. In Canada, women are leading the fast-paced search for a vaccine. They are leading our provinces and territories. At home, they are leading families through self-isolation, often bearing the responsibility for their physical and emotional health. They are figuring out what working from home looks like, and many of them are doing it while homeschooling their kids. Women crafted the blueprint for kindness during the pandemic, from sewing masks to kicking off international mutual-aid networks. And, perhaps not surprisingly, women have also suffered some of the biggest losses, bearing the brunt of our economic skydive. Through intimate portraits of Canadian women in diverse situations and fields, Women of the Pandemic is a gripping narrative record of the early months of COVID-19, a clear-eyed look at women's struggles, which highlights their creativity, perseverance, and resilience as they charted a new path forward during impossible times."--
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Motherhood.; Mothers; Parenting.; Women employees; Women; Work and family.; Work-life balance.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI