Virus World

On July 1, 1946 the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) opened its doors and occupied one floor of a small building in Atlanta. Its primary mission was simple yet highly challenging: prevent malaria from spreading across the nation. Armed with a budget of only $10 million and fewer than 400 employees, the agency’s early challenges included obtaining enough trucks, sprayers, and shovels necessary to wage war on mosquitoes. As the organization took root deep in the South, once known as the heart of the malaria zone, CDC Founder Dr. Joseph Mountin continued to advocate for public health issues and to push for CDC to extend its responsibilities to other communicable diseases. He was a visionary public health leader with high hopes for this small and, at that time, relatively insignificant branch of the Public Health Service.

In 1947, CDC made a token payment of $10 to Emory University for 15 acres of land on Clifton Road in Atlanta that now serves as CDC headquarters. The new institution expanded its focus to include all communicable diseases and to provide practical help to state health departments when requested. Although medical epidemiologists were scarce in those early years, disease surveillance became the cornerstone of CDC’s mission of service to the states and over time changed the practice of public health. There have been many significant accomplishments since CDC’s humble beginnings. The following highlights some of CDC’s important achievements for improving public health worldwide. Today, CDC is one of the major operating components of the Department of Health and Human Services and is recognized as the nation’s premiere health promotion, prevention, and preparedness agency.

Lack of money to manufacture its mRNA vaccine almost derailed Moderna in its bid to make a Covid-19 vaccine. Moderna Inc. has emerged as a biotech power — and a household name — thanks to its success developing a Covid-19 vaccine. But that outcome hides what happened along the way: The company came perilously close to being the biggest loser in the race for a Covid-19 vaccine. At one point last year, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel was overcome with sadness because he thought he had blown the company’s opportunity to produce vaccines to help stop the pandemic. I spent 17 months investigating how the Covid-19 vaccines were developed. I spoke with more than three hundred scientists, academics, executives, government officials, investors, and others who made the Covid-19 vaccines possible. Though developing a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine in a timeline that many called impossible was a monumental effort, the Moderna story is a stark reminder of how thin the line can be between success and failure. For years, Bancel exuded confidence about his company’s prospects. A 49-year-old native of Marseille, France, Bancel spent the years leading up to 2020 declaring that Moderna was on its way to producing vaccines and drugs using messenger RNA molecules, ignoring rampant skepticism in the biotech world. Well before SARS-CoV-2 emerged, he left rivals slack-jawed with his ability to coax tens of billions of dollars from investors around the globe. Working with scientists from the National Institutes of Health, Moderna produced a promising Covid-19 vaccine in January 2020, just weeks after the virus’s sequence had been shared by Chinese scientists. 

On March 2, Bancel flew to Washington, D.C., to join some of the world’s leading drug-industry executives in a meeting with President Donald Trump. Representatives from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, and others were there, as were senior members of the Trump administration and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Bancel and the others made their ways through layers of security to enter the West Wing. So many people were invited for the meeting that, at the last moment, it was moved to a large conference room next to the Oval Office. As Bancel and the others found spots around the room, however, even that space began to feel cramped. Trump asked each of the drug company execs for updates on their progress making vaccines and drugs. Sitting across from Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, Bancel spoke with confidence, saying Moderna would move its vaccine into Phase 2 trials in the coming few months and would then start a final Phase 3 trial. Bancel promised such a lightning-fast pace for his company’s vaccine development that some around the table became uncomfortable, viewing the timetable as unrealistic. Trump became visibly excited, though. He tried to pin down Bancel on a date when he could expect Moderna to deliver a vaccine....