Longshot

This is the incredible story of the scientists who created a coronavirus vaccine in record time.

In Longshot, investigative journalist David Heath takes readers inside the small group of scientists whose groundbreaking work was once largely dismissed but whose feat will now eclipse the importance of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine in medical history. With never-before-reported details, Heath reveals how these scientists overcame countless obstacles to give the world an unprecedented head start when we needed a COVID-19 vaccine.

The story really begins in the 1990s, with a series of discoveries that were timed perfectly to prepare us for the worst pandemic since 1918. Readers will meet Katalin Kariko, who made it possible to use messenger RNA in vaccines but struggled for years just to hang on to her job. There's also Derrick Rossi, who leveraged Kariko's work to found Moderna but was eventually expelled from his company. And then there's Barney Graham at the National Institutes of Health, who had a career-long obsession with solving the riddle of why two toddlers died in a vaccine trial in 1966, a tragedy that ultimately led to a critical breakthrough in vaccine science.

With both foresight and luck, Graham and these other crucial scientists set the course for a coronavirus vaccine years before COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China. The author draws on hundreds of hours of interviews with key players to tell the definitive story about how the race to create the vaccine sparked a revolution in medical science.

About the Author

David Heath is an award-winning investigative journalist. He previously led a new data team at CNN with an emphasis on investigative reporting. His work has helped to change policies and laws and has even led to criminal indictments. Heath has written about a broad ranges of issues, including the environment, scientific integrity, health research, financial scandals and terrorism. His work has appeared on PBS Frontline, PBS NewsHour , the CBS Evening News, the Huffington Post, The Atlantic, Time, Newsweek, the Daily Beast, Vice News, Scientific American and Mother Jones.

He has won more than two dozen national journalism awards, including the Goldsmith, the Gerald Loeb and George Polk. His work with others has been nominated for a national Emmy and he has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times. He lives in Washington, D.C.