In the eyes of the world, efforts to develop an AIDS vaccine were a failure, as there is still no cure today. The companies involved saw their fortunes fall as quickly as they had risen. Under the radar, however, infectious disease scientists were learning how to isolate neutralising antibodies, how to conduct trials during international crises, and how to understand the human immune system. These lessons would prove crucial almost forty years later, when another epidemic would spark another race to find a vaccine.

A Shot to Save the World is the incredible story of the coronavirus vaccination, as you’ve never heard it before. Award-winning journalist Greg Zuckerman dives into the complex history that links the AIDS and Covid-19 epidemics, and details how the lessons learned during the perceived failures of the former were the catalysts for unprecedented scientific success during the latter. He reveals the twisting fates of the companies that were never supposed to last long enough to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, and examines the experiences of the people behind the science, and their relentless persistence in pursuit of a better world.