This book is as enjoyable as it is informative. In fact it is an excellent example of popular science writing at its best. Meridith Wadman keeps the reader engaged by following the story of Leonard Hayflick and his WI-58 human cell culture. In the process you learn so much. The chapter describing the recent discoveries on cell ageing and the basis of the Hayflick limit is a masterclass in providing an explanation of ground breaking science to the general reader. There is so much is this book e.g. many very interesting characters, ethical issues discussed frankly. But ultimately this book is one great story that is well told and worth reading. I am grateful to the writer for the opportunity of being able read such an outstanding book. ( )

Around 60 years ago it was still possible for pregnant mothers exposed to German Measles or rubella, to have children that were born with crippling birth defects. No one really knew how the virus affected the unborn child, nor did they know the best way to fight against this disease. It was understood how you could make a vaccine to combat the virus that caused this illness and others like chicken pox, rabies, and polio, but early attempts with animal cell-based vaccines caused as many problems as the illness they were trying to cure.

In 1962, a young biologist, Leonard Hayflick, in Philadelphia extracted cells from an aborted foetus that managed to turn the tide. These clean cells allowed scientist to create vaccines that were safe for almost everyone to use, and it carried the bland description of WI-38. This tiny collection of cells would be expanded time after time to be used to protect over 150 million children in America. Some of the cells he extracted and the methods he developed to get safe vaccines have saved billions of lives around the world.

But it almost didn't happen. Given the source of the cells, there were countless political hurdles to overcome as well as complaints from pro-life groups who were incandescent with rage about it, but the scientist persevered and the vaccines got made and sent out in the world. Wadman has pieced together this story of how the cells were created, how the testing that was done on the uninformed and how that couldn't happen these days. The distribution of these medicines helped create some of the worlds largest companies as the profits poured in. Whilst getting the detail right is important, the narrative that is so crucial in these books got a little lost in amongst all the technical explanations at times. It is a very important story that Wadman is telling though, especially given that fact that we may well be on the dawn of a new era in medicine with the rise of immunity against antibiotics. The one flaw though is that the book is very American centric with little UK and European interest, which is a shame as I feel that this would have a broader audience otherwise. ( )

Summary: In this fantastic example of journalistic research, Wadman wrote about the crippling effects of various diseases, especially of birth defects. Diseases covered included rubella, polio, rabies, chicken pox, measles and hepatitis A. She then described the scientific efforts put forth to find vaccines for these diseases, as well as political roadblocks and legal/moral failings of some of the scientists.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. It was well-researched and interesting. I didn’t realize what kinds of political roadblocks were present in the development of vaccines. She mostly avoided the topic of vaccine deniers and the misconception that vaccines cause autism. That’s probably for the best, because the book was already rather long. However, I do feel that the story is a tiny bit incomplete without covering it a little bit. Despite this omission, I loved this book and understand why it was on the Wellcome Book Prize shortlist. ( )

This book chronicles the life of Dr Leonard Hayflick, who rose from humble beginnings as a poor Jewish kid from Southwest Philadelphia to become the inventor of the first human diploid cell line, and to determine that these and other normal human cells can only divide a limited number of times before they die, which later became known as the Hayflick limit. One cell line, WI-38, created while he was a staff member of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, became the host for viruses used to create effective vaccines against rubella (German measles) by Dr Stanley Plotkin, and against rabies, by Dr Hilary Koprowski, the long time director of the Wistar Institute, and his colleagues. Hayflick is portrayed as a dedicated and driven but underrecognized researcher, whose dogged persistence and willingness to skirt established norms allowed him to gain recognition for his discoveries, but led him to fall afoul of the National Institutes of Health, which derailed his work at the height of his career.

In "The Vaccine Race", Wadman also describes the devastating effects that congenital rubella had on affected infants and their parents, along with rabies, an infection that is nearly always fatal if not diagnosed in time. The book also covers the fierce internecine battles within the Wistar Institute, and amongst the research teams who worked feverishly to become the first to have their vaccines created and approved for public use, while undermining their competitors at the same time. The massive egos of these researchers and the government officials charged with approving the vaccines are on full display as well.

"The Vaccine Race" is an extensively researched and well written account of the major players in the development of human diploid cell lines for research, and the vaccines that were successfully created by using them, particularly Hayflick's WI-38 line. The book is written for the general public, and Wadman does a fine job of explaining detailed and complicated scientific and medical information. It is a lengthy read, but a rewarding and entertaining one as well. ( )

It's interesting to learn about the innumerable intricacies and machinations come into play in order to generate something that is truly paradigm-changing. When people discuss going back to a time before agriculture (I'm looking at you, Derek Jensen) two of the major things that would prevent me from wanting to do so are antibiotics and vaccinations. See, I am very happy to live in a time where the only needless childhood illness that I suffered from was the Chicken Pox, and I was among the last to even have to suffer from that. I am grateful that my parents had me vaccinated against so many illnesses that could have killed me had I grown up 100 or even 50 years prior to when I did.

The Vaccine Race really explores what went into the childhood vaccines that we take for granted today. (Or maybe, we don't. See the resurgence of whooping cough as a terribly reality that just because some folks don't believe in science, doesn't mean that science still can't hurt them.) Not only do you have the egos of prominent physicians, surgeons, and medical researchers; not only do you have a research environment devoid of informed consent and HIPAA; not only do you have government officials who may or may not have the public's best interest in sight; not only do you have whistleblowers and those with varying philosophies, religions and ethics; but then you have all of these forces converging to lead to the medical landscape that we inhabit today, for better or for worse.

I found myself, unknowingly, in a state of suspense while reading this book. The human fetal cell vaccinations, although not a panacea by any means, were found to be so superior to animal-kidney vaccines and yet were fought against on many fronts due to either personal vendettas or religious beliefs. I kept thinking "oh man, the government needs to approve a human fetal cell rubella vaccine before 1984 so that I can get it!" (Spoiler alert: they did!)

In all, this book was damn interesting. I had a hard time putting it down. However, I do read a lot of nonfiction and take a large interest in medical literature, maybe because my dad being a doctor has always made me wonder "what if" I had gone down the career path of medical researcher rather than engineer / research scientist. Still, I highly recommend it if history, medicine, science or all three of those things interest you. ( )