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How to Make a Vaccine: An Essential Guide for COVID-19 and Beyond
Distinguished expert in vaccine development John Rhodes tells the story of the first approved COVID-19 vaccines and offers an essential, up-to-the-minute primer on how scientists discover, test, and distribute vaccines.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every corner of the world, changing our relationship to our communities, to our jobs, and to each other, the most pressing question has been—when will it end? Researchers around the globe are urgently trying to answer this question by racing to test and distribute a vaccine that could end the greatest public health threat of our time. In How to Make a Vaccine, an expert who has firsthand experience developing vaccines tells an optimistic story of how three hundred years of vaccine discovery and a century and a half of immunology research have come together at this powerful moment—and will lead to multiple COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. John Rhodes draws on his experience as an immunologist, including working alongside a young Anthony Fauci, to unravel the mystery of how vaccines are designed, tested, and produced at scale for global deployment. Concise and accessible, this book describes in everyday language how the immune system evolved to combat infection, how viruses responded by evolving ways to evade our defenses, and how vaccines do their work. That history, and the pace of current research developments, make Rhodes hopeful that multiple vaccines will protect us. Today the complex workings of the immune system are well understood. The tools needed by biomedical scientists stand ready to be used, and more than 160 vaccine candidates have already been produced. But defeating COVID-19 won’t be the end of the Rhodes describes how discoveries today are also empowering scientists to combat future threats to global health, including a recent breakthrough in the development of genetic vaccines, which have never before been used in humans.
As the world prepares for a vaccine, Rhodes offers a current and informative look at the science and strategies that deliver solutions to the crisis.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every corner of the world, changing our relationship to our communities, to our jobs, and to each other, the most pressing question has been—when will it end? Researchers around the globe are urgently trying to answer this question by racing to test and distribute a vaccine that could end the greatest public health threat of our time. In How to Make a Vaccine, an expert who has firsthand experience developing vaccines tells an optimistic story of how three hundred years of vaccine discovery and a century and a half of immunology research have come together at this powerful moment—and will lead to multiple COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. John Rhodes draws on his experience as an immunologist, including working alongside a young Anthony Fauci, to unravel the mystery of how vaccines are designed, tested, and produced at scale for global deployment. Concise and accessible, this book describes in everyday language how the immune system evolved to combat infection, how viruses responded by evolving ways to evade our defenses, and how vaccines do their work. That history, and the pace of current research developments, make Rhodes hopeful that multiple vaccines will protect us. Today the complex workings of the immune system are well understood. The tools needed by biomedical scientists stand ready to be used, and more than 160 vaccine candidates have already been produced. But defeating COVID-19 won’t be the end of the Rhodes describes how discoveries today are also empowering scientists to combat future threats to global health, including a recent breakthrough in the development of genetic vaccines, which have never before been used in humans.
As the world prepares for a vaccine, Rhodes offers a current and informative look at the science and strategies that deliver solutions to the crisis.
184 pages, Paperback
Published April 12, 2021
25 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 6, 2021
True to its subtitle, How to Make a Vaccine is an essential and informative primer on how vaccines are developed and how they work. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2021...
April 28, 2025
I was helping a student at the library I work at find immunology books and realized that we don't have paper copies of anything published after 2019. Not super great. We also don't have much of a budget, and what we do spend goes almost entirely into databases and e-books, so I figured I'd read this and donate it.
This was published in 2021. Rhodes goes over the history of immunology and what we currently know about the immune system and how it works. He also discusses the history of vaccines, various types of vaccines, and the various stages of vaccine development. Then he looks at the various COVID-19 vaccine contenders, arranged by class: inactivated whole-virus vaccines, protein subunit vaccines, live attenuated vaccines, nonreplicating viral vector vaccines, replicating viral vector vaccines, virus-like particle vaccines, DNA vaccines, and RNA vaccines. There's a chart of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine candidates at the end of the book. Rhodes also goes over some vaccination hurdles and how they might be overcome.
This book was maybe not the best place for me to start. Rhodes is an immunologist who definitely seemed to know what he was talking about. Unfortunately, I wasn't always able to follow along with his explanations very well. I really could have used some visual aids.
Still, I appreciated learning a little more about vaccine development in general and the development of COVID-19 vaccines in particular.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
This was published in 2021. Rhodes goes over the history of immunology and what we currently know about the immune system and how it works. He also discusses the history of vaccines, various types of vaccines, and the various stages of vaccine development. Then he looks at the various COVID-19 vaccine contenders, arranged by class: inactivated whole-virus vaccines, protein subunit vaccines, live attenuated vaccines, nonreplicating viral vector vaccines, replicating viral vector vaccines, virus-like particle vaccines, DNA vaccines, and RNA vaccines. There's a chart of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine candidates at the end of the book. Rhodes also goes over some vaccination hurdles and how they might be overcome.
This book was maybe not the best place for me to start. Rhodes is an immunologist who definitely seemed to know what he was talking about. Unfortunately, I wasn't always able to follow along with his explanations very well. I really could have used some visual aids.
Still, I appreciated learning a little more about vaccine development in general and the development of COVID-19 vaccines in particular.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
October 16, 2021
Well researched and written in a very understandable way. Illustrates the years of research and development that go into vaccines. Historical context and information specific to roll out of the COVID-19 vaccines.
p15 Behring and Kitasato, circa 1889, named substance which appeared to inactivate only the toxin used to produce it, antitoxin. Later this would be called antibody, the protein actively produced by the body to neutralize, eliminate, or kill invading germs.
p17 Burnet, a virologist, became principal contributor to understanding of how immune system learns and remembers infections. He proposed in late 1950s that receptors (locks) fitting all shapes (keys) in universe of microbes are present on immune cells but that each cell has only one receptor shape.
p20 Antibodies are Y-shaped
p27-8 T-cells: Jacques Miller (nee Meunier), his pioneering work showed thymus populates body with T-cells, B-cells produced in bone marrow
p30 "A central tenet of the genetic code is the faithful transition of characteristics...DNA normally resists all change. But not in the developing immune system...Tonegawa found rather than existing as whole genes, the genes coding for antibodies are made up of strings of units, like beads on a thread." The shuffling of these units during its embryonic stage makes for great diversity within a relatively small number of genes. With Tonegawa's discoveries a window to an solution to problem of infectious disease opened--idea of taking different parts and assembling them in different configurations. Tonegawa first Japanese to be awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1987. (see also Kitasato's work from 80 years before).
Chapter 3--history of vaccination
p43 Alum, first adjuvant, enhancing agent added to vaccine to amplify immune response.
p46 Discussion of earlier vaccines in modern world
p51 Beginning development of DNA and RNA vaccines
Chapter 4- Vaccine trials
Chapter 5, p86 RNA vaccines aimed at COVID-19.
p100 COVID-19 treatments
p15 Behring and Kitasato, circa 1889, named substance which appeared to inactivate only the toxin used to produce it, antitoxin. Later this would be called antibody, the protein actively produced by the body to neutralize, eliminate, or kill invading germs.
p17 Burnet, a virologist, became principal contributor to understanding of how immune system learns and remembers infections. He proposed in late 1950s that receptors (locks) fitting all shapes (keys) in universe of microbes are present on immune cells but that each cell has only one receptor shape.
p20 Antibodies are Y-shaped
p27-8 T-cells: Jacques Miller (nee Meunier), his pioneering work showed thymus populates body with T-cells, B-cells produced in bone marrow
p30 "A central tenet of the genetic code is the faithful transition of characteristics...DNA normally resists all change. But not in the developing immune system...Tonegawa found rather than existing as whole genes, the genes coding for antibodies are made up of strings of units, like beads on a thread." The shuffling of these units during its embryonic stage makes for great diversity within a relatively small number of genes. With Tonegawa's discoveries a window to an solution to problem of infectious disease opened--idea of taking different parts and assembling them in different configurations. Tonegawa first Japanese to be awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1987. (see also Kitasato's work from 80 years before).
Chapter 3--history of vaccination
p43 Alum, first adjuvant, enhancing agent added to vaccine to amplify immune response.
p46 Discussion of earlier vaccines in modern world
p51 Beginning development of DNA and RNA vaccines
Chapter 4- Vaccine trials
Chapter 5, p86 RNA vaccines aimed at COVID-19.
p100 COVID-19 treatments
May 22, 2021
> The influenza pandemic of 1918–19 is estimated to have killed 50 million people worldwide, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. Most deaths worldwide occurred in a 16-week period, from mid-September to mid-December 1918. Some 500 million people (27 percent of the global population) are estimated to have suffered infection. But the first flu vaccines would not be developed until 1941.
> The [smallpox] vaccine was transferred between humans, arm to arm. Ships’ crews, willing passengers, and orphaned children procured for the purpose and offered a fresh chance in the New World served as links in this vital human chain. Vaccine transfers were made serially and judiciously to conserve fresh material. When a vaccine voyage, commissioned by Charles IV of Spain, arrived in Caracas, Venezuela, just one boy still had fresh pustules to transfer infection to a native recipient. But one boy was enough for vaccination to be launched in the South American continent, nearly three centuries after Spanish adventurers had inadvertently carried smallpox there.
> When Franklin Roosevelt, inaugurated the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later called the March of Dimes, a grassroots fervor to beat polio and discover a vaccine united the nation.
> The [smallpox] vaccine was transferred between humans, arm to arm. Ships’ crews, willing passengers, and orphaned children procured for the purpose and offered a fresh chance in the New World served as links in this vital human chain. Vaccine transfers were made serially and judiciously to conserve fresh material. When a vaccine voyage, commissioned by Charles IV of Spain, arrived in Caracas, Venezuela, just one boy still had fresh pustules to transfer infection to a native recipient. But one boy was enough for vaccination to be launched in the South American continent, nearly three centuries after Spanish adventurers had inadvertently carried smallpox there.
> When Franklin Roosevelt, inaugurated the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later called the March of Dimes, a grassroots fervor to beat polio and discover a vaccine united the nation.
February 1, 2026
.・。.・゜✭ How to Make a Vaccine - 3 Stars ✫・゜・。.
🏛️✩‧₊˚ Jan. 27th - Jan. 31st, 184
₊‧꒰𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬꒱ ‧₊ ✨
⤷ I actually enjoyed this book a lot! I thought it was a perfect combination of intriguing scientific knowledge and cultural stories that somehow fit really well to the overall content of the book. I got this from my school library and it did not disappoint, though I must say that I'm not that big of a fan of prose nonfiction as a genre. I decided to read it because it is exactly what I want to pursue in the future (pharmaceuticals) and believe that it would help me understand concepts needed for university.
🏛️✩‧₊˚ Jan. 27th - Jan. 31st, 184
₊‧꒰𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬꒱ ‧₊ ✨
⤷ I actually enjoyed this book a lot! I thought it was a perfect combination of intriguing scientific knowledge and cultural stories that somehow fit really well to the overall content of the book. I got this from my school library and it did not disappoint, though I must say that I'm not that big of a fan of prose nonfiction as a genre. I decided to read it because it is exactly what I want to pursue in the future (pharmaceuticals) and believe that it would help me understand concepts needed for university.
June 26, 2021
Very thorough account of vaccines, from academic research to large scale production. Particularly focused on the historical breakthroughs that paved the way for new technologies used in the SARS-CoV-1/2 pandemic. Interestingly, talks about how RNA technology has been around for much longer than the current Pfizer and Moderna type vaccines, particularly in veterinary medicine.
Easily readable and not too technically jargoned. Buy it for your anti-vaxxer friends ;)
Easily readable and not too technically jargoned. Buy it for your anti-vaxxer friends ;)
September 30, 2022
Summary: A concise handbook discussing the science behind vaccine development, including an explanation of the different types of vaccines, including the various COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
There have been endless polemics for and against vaccines, especially in the years of COVID-19. This book is not one of those. Rather, it represents what I believe is good public science–explaining in terms that a thoughtful layperson may grasp the science behind vaccine development, particularly as it bears on the COVID-19 vaccines. John Rhodes is a research scientist from the UK who has held positions at both Cambridge and the NIH as well as working as director of strategy in immunology at GlaxoSmithKline from 2001 to 2007. Writing from outside the U.S. context he takes the reader step by step through the science while not drawing policy or personal conclusions for us, giving us space to step back from the debates and become learners.
He begins by discussing the pathogens vaccines fight, in this case, the coronavirus that causes COVID. In particular, he focuses on the target, ACE2 proteins to which the spikes on the virus affix themselves, and how this target of attack affects the body. Then he discusses the array of cells that make up our immune system including surveillance cells and different kind of B- and T-cells and how they interact both with pathogens and each other, and how the body manufactures cells with the specificity to kill each pathogen. We learn about the thymus, an organ that disappears in adults and its critical role in ramping up our immune system. And Rhodes discusses the crucial role of adjuvants in the vaccine material, chemical or microbial agents delivered with whatever form of vaccine material that helps the body identify it as foreign and intensifies the immune response, enhancing vaccine effectiveness.
Rhodes then turns to vaccines proper, and their discovery through the immunity relatively harmless cowpox confers on those exposed to smallpox. The name vaccine even arises from this, as vacca is the Latin for cow. The basic trick of every vaccine since is triggering the body to produce antibodies against an infection without introducing that infection. Two main ways (until recently) this was done was to either use dead virus or live attenuated virus, as was the case with the polio vaccines that turned summer from “polio season to just “summer.” Eventually additional approaches including viral vectors and various approaches using DNA and RNA material have been developed
Next, Rhodes walks us through the development process and the stages in that process:
Exploratory: Studying the virus to determine what components to include to provoke a strong response to the virus without adverse reactions.
Preclinical: Conducting tissue and animal studies to study effectiveness with different dosages and adjuvants.
Phase I trials: These are human trials with small numbers to study the safety of the vaccine but also whether they provoke an effective response.
Phase II trials: These are with larger groups continuing to study safety as well as dosage and adjuvant effects in producing an effective response.
Phase III trials: These involve tens of thousands of subjects, continuing to look for even rare adverse reactions. Often these are done in regions with high infections to better establish the real-world effectiveness of the vaccine.
Regulatory review and approval. Producers submit an application to certification agencies in each country, such a the FDA in the US. Even after certification, ongoing reporting occurs through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
He also discusses long term vaccine research, such as that on DNA and RNA vaccines that have been going on for twenty years, leading to their stunning effectiveness.
There were an unprecedented number of contenders for COVID-19 vaccines, representing the various types of vaccines already discussed: inactivated whole-virus vaccines, protein subunit vaccines (also non-living), live attenuated viruses, non-replicating viral vector vaccines, replicating viral vector vaccines, virus-like particle vaccines, and DNA and RNA vaccines. He describes how each works, the ways they interact with the immune system and where they were being developed. He also takes a chapter to warn us against magic bullets and the importance of therapeutics. The history of COVID since this book was written amply illustrates this point–with new variants that reduce (though not eliminate) vaccine effectiveness on one hand and a growing array of therapeutics.
While there has been much controversy surrounding vaccines, Rhodes focuses on the amazing story of how quickly a myriad of vaccine candidates entered trials and how vaccine campaigns began in many countries within a year of the discovery of the virus. It represented advances not only in the science of vaccine development but also unprecedented collaboration of scientists around the world and the clearing of administrative hurdles without compromising safety protocols.
There will always be the threat of dangerous pathogens and it is right to not count on “magic bullets.” But there is much to rejoice in as one learns about the immune system and the science of vaccines. Very few people die of the horror of tetanus or polio. Small pox only exists in freezers. New vaccines hold the promise of protection against malaria, a perennial killer in tropical climates. The research and collaborative steps taken in developing vaccines in record time that seriously reduced the threat of a pathogen novel to the human species seems to me worthy of celebration rather than opprobrium. I found myself alternating between wonder and hope as I learned more about the science of vaccines. Perhaps itis time, in the aftermath of the pandemic and when the arguments and polemics have quieted, to learn about our amazing bodies, about the dangers novel pathogens pose, and the progress human ingenuity has made to give us the tools to fend off those dangers. This book is a good place to start.
There have been endless polemics for and against vaccines, especially in the years of COVID-19. This book is not one of those. Rather, it represents what I believe is good public science–explaining in terms that a thoughtful layperson may grasp the science behind vaccine development, particularly as it bears on the COVID-19 vaccines. John Rhodes is a research scientist from the UK who has held positions at both Cambridge and the NIH as well as working as director of strategy in immunology at GlaxoSmithKline from 2001 to 2007. Writing from outside the U.S. context he takes the reader step by step through the science while not drawing policy or personal conclusions for us, giving us space to step back from the debates and become learners.
He begins by discussing the pathogens vaccines fight, in this case, the coronavirus that causes COVID. In particular, he focuses on the target, ACE2 proteins to which the spikes on the virus affix themselves, and how this target of attack affects the body. Then he discusses the array of cells that make up our immune system including surveillance cells and different kind of B- and T-cells and how they interact both with pathogens and each other, and how the body manufactures cells with the specificity to kill each pathogen. We learn about the thymus, an organ that disappears in adults and its critical role in ramping up our immune system. And Rhodes discusses the crucial role of adjuvants in the vaccine material, chemical or microbial agents delivered with whatever form of vaccine material that helps the body identify it as foreign and intensifies the immune response, enhancing vaccine effectiveness.
Rhodes then turns to vaccines proper, and their discovery through the immunity relatively harmless cowpox confers on those exposed to smallpox. The name vaccine even arises from this, as vacca is the Latin for cow. The basic trick of every vaccine since is triggering the body to produce antibodies against an infection without introducing that infection. Two main ways (until recently) this was done was to either use dead virus or live attenuated virus, as was the case with the polio vaccines that turned summer from “polio season to just “summer.” Eventually additional approaches including viral vectors and various approaches using DNA and RNA material have been developed
Next, Rhodes walks us through the development process and the stages in that process:
Exploratory: Studying the virus to determine what components to include to provoke a strong response to the virus without adverse reactions.
Preclinical: Conducting tissue and animal studies to study effectiveness with different dosages and adjuvants.
Phase I trials: These are human trials with small numbers to study the safety of the vaccine but also whether they provoke an effective response.
Phase II trials: These are with larger groups continuing to study safety as well as dosage and adjuvant effects in producing an effective response.
Phase III trials: These involve tens of thousands of subjects, continuing to look for even rare adverse reactions. Often these are done in regions with high infections to better establish the real-world effectiveness of the vaccine.
Regulatory review and approval. Producers submit an application to certification agencies in each country, such a the FDA in the US. Even after certification, ongoing reporting occurs through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
He also discusses long term vaccine research, such as that on DNA and RNA vaccines that have been going on for twenty years, leading to their stunning effectiveness.
There were an unprecedented number of contenders for COVID-19 vaccines, representing the various types of vaccines already discussed: inactivated whole-virus vaccines, protein subunit vaccines (also non-living), live attenuated viruses, non-replicating viral vector vaccines, replicating viral vector vaccines, virus-like particle vaccines, and DNA and RNA vaccines. He describes how each works, the ways they interact with the immune system and where they were being developed. He also takes a chapter to warn us against magic bullets and the importance of therapeutics. The history of COVID since this book was written amply illustrates this point–with new variants that reduce (though not eliminate) vaccine effectiveness on one hand and a growing array of therapeutics.
While there has been much controversy surrounding vaccines, Rhodes focuses on the amazing story of how quickly a myriad of vaccine candidates entered trials and how vaccine campaigns began in many countries within a year of the discovery of the virus. It represented advances not only in the science of vaccine development but also unprecedented collaboration of scientists around the world and the clearing of administrative hurdles without compromising safety protocols.
There will always be the threat of dangerous pathogens and it is right to not count on “magic bullets.” But there is much to rejoice in as one learns about the immune system and the science of vaccines. Very few people die of the horror of tetanus or polio. Small pox only exists in freezers. New vaccines hold the promise of protection against malaria, a perennial killer in tropical climates. The research and collaborative steps taken in developing vaccines in record time that seriously reduced the threat of a pathogen novel to the human species seems to me worthy of celebration rather than opprobrium. I found myself alternating between wonder and hope as I learned more about the science of vaccines. Perhaps itis time, in the aftermath of the pandemic and when the arguments and polemics have quieted, to learn about our amazing bodies, about the dangers novel pathogens pose, and the progress human ingenuity has made to give us the tools to fend off those dangers. This book is a good place to start.
November 8, 2021
An interesting book on the history of vaccines, how they are produced, and the society issues around current COVID-19 vaccines over development, access and distribution.
Chapter one gives an overview and a history of viruses, starting with the Spanish Flu. A closer look at the viruses that causes SARS and COVID-19 is then given.
Chapter two looks at the history of discoveries on the immune system and how the various cells that make up the immune system detect and act to discover foreign particles in the body and react to eliminate it.
Chapter three looks at the history of vaccination and vaccines. Starting with the story of the smallpox vaccine, it then moves on to the development of live and dead vaccines, the use of adjuvants to improve the response of vaccines, and the development of other kinds of vaccines, including a mention of DNA and RNA based vaccines.
Chapter four looks at what it takes to make vaccines: from the initial research and discovery, through to trials and manufacturing. The vaccine or other chemicals used may fail at any stage or even outside it, if it does not align with the interests of the pharmaceutical company doing the research.
Chapter five looks at the various vaccine technologies available that were used to create vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, some traditional (like dead and live virus vaccines) to the latest (mRNA vaccines).
Chapter six considers whether vaccines are 'magic bullets' and shows that they aren't. Using examples like the search for an HIV vaccine and various flu vaccines, the author conclude that current vaccines need to be good enough to protect people from serious illness. Drugs can also help by reducing the length is the illness.
Chapter seven looks at the challenges faced by vaccines, from anti-vaccination groups, and misinformation to ensuring equal access to vaccines to people from around the world.
Chapter eight briefly looks at the status of vaccines for COVID-19, of which there are many, some already in production, other waiting for approval, and remind us that there are many ways to solve the problem.
Chapter one gives an overview and a history of viruses, starting with the Spanish Flu. A closer look at the viruses that causes SARS and COVID-19 is then given.
Chapter two looks at the history of discoveries on the immune system and how the various cells that make up the immune system detect and act to discover foreign particles in the body and react to eliminate it.
Chapter three looks at the history of vaccination and vaccines. Starting with the story of the smallpox vaccine, it then moves on to the development of live and dead vaccines, the use of adjuvants to improve the response of vaccines, and the development of other kinds of vaccines, including a mention of DNA and RNA based vaccines.
Chapter four looks at what it takes to make vaccines: from the initial research and discovery, through to trials and manufacturing. The vaccine or other chemicals used may fail at any stage or even outside it, if it does not align with the interests of the pharmaceutical company doing the research.
Chapter five looks at the various vaccine technologies available that were used to create vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, some traditional (like dead and live virus vaccines) to the latest (mRNA vaccines).
Chapter six considers whether vaccines are 'magic bullets' and shows that they aren't. Using examples like the search for an HIV vaccine and various flu vaccines, the author conclude that current vaccines need to be good enough to protect people from serious illness. Drugs can also help by reducing the length is the illness.
Chapter seven looks at the challenges faced by vaccines, from anti-vaccination groups, and misinformation to ensuring equal access to vaccines to people from around the world.
Chapter eight briefly looks at the status of vaccines for COVID-19, of which there are many, some already in production, other waiting for approval, and remind us that there are many ways to solve the problem.
December 30, 2021
The book doesn't really tell you how to make a vaccine. It's more about the history of immunology and vaccines. It also doesn't say much about the RNA vaccines which a lot of us are interested in knowing more about. The author keeps lumping RNA vaccines together with DNA vaccines as 'nucleic acid vaccines', whereas he tries to make fine subdivisions of all other kinds of vaccines. But I think RNA vaccines deserve to be treated as a separate category. They have proved themselves to be the best vaccines against COVID-19 so far. DNA vaccines never got to a clinical use.
July 26, 2021
Only 130 pages long, this book is brief but really covers everything of essence. To be honest, I hadn't known that many vaccines were under development. Worth reading for those who want to learn quickly how scientists go about designing vaccines, the rationale behind them, and how the various vaccine strategies work. A helpful table is also included at the back if you want to look at all the vaccines being developed.
August 15, 2021
I just don't understand who this book is written for. Some science terms are explained, but most of the time, I was a little lost (ie mindlessly skimming over science-y sentences). To be fair, I think this book is trying to keep it short and simple.
On the writing level, transitions within chapters could use some work. Sometimes we are bopping around from disease to disease, going backward and forward in time, and it's not immediately clear that we have shifted or why.
On the writing level, transitions within chapters could use some work. Sometimes we are bopping around from disease to disease, going backward and forward in time, and it's not immediately clear that we have shifted or why.
April 21, 2021
Good and accessible overview of vaccine development vis a vis covid, but mostly what I walk away from this with is the knowledge that the immune system has cells that swallow stuff like Kirby to determine what they're made of.
July 30, 2023
great book
This is a great read on vaccine history and development. It is clear but somewhat complicated in some parts but nonetheless you do go away with a much clearer understanding of vaccine development and safeguards.
This is a great read on vaccine history and development. It is clear but somewhat complicated in some parts but nonetheless you do go away with a much clearer understanding of vaccine development and safeguards.
November 22, 2024
The best way to describe this book’s writing is “blocky.”
This book was okay… but felt unfocused. As a PhD student studying immunology, I didn’t get a ton of new info, just summaries on what I already knew.
This book was okay… but felt unfocused. As a PhD student studying immunology, I didn’t get a ton of new info, just summaries on what I already knew.
August 25, 2025
It may not be the greatest book ever, but I appreciated how informative and concise it was. I certainly learned a lot and I’m glad I read it.
March 10, 2022
Very concise and informative. This book did an excellent job of providing readers with a general overview of the vaccine development process.
June 18, 2021
The author of this book, John Rhodes, is an immunologist with experience in both academic research and the industry of vaccine development. So, in "𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐕𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞", Dr Rhodes draws on his experience to narrate and describe historical discoveries related to vaccines and the immune system along with their relevance to COVID-19.
The book consists of 8 chapters. In the first 3 chapters, the author takes a historical approach to describe the SARS outbreak, the discovery of coronaviruses, the structure of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, theories about how antibodies work, how scientists came to understand the structure and shape of antibodies, the role of T-cells and surveillance cells, the importance of adjuvants in provoking an immune response, variolation and how the first vaccines were discovered, and viral vectors and their use in vaccines. Chapters 4 and 5 are, in my opinion, the key chapters of the book. In chapter 4, the author explains the 6 stages in the development of a new vaccine, while in chapter 5, he goes through the 6 types of vaccines (with a focus on COVID-19 vaccines) and types of adjuvants used in these vaccines. Later chapters discuss the hurdles and logistical challenges regarding mass production of vaccines, their delivery, and the issue of vaccine hesitancy.
A book about "how vaccines are made" is a timely book with a great promise, but I was a little disappointed. First, the book is devoid of any illustrations. Second, the title is a bit misleading as the book's main focus is NOT "how to make a vaccine". Rather, the author focuses more on personal and historical contexts of scientific discoveries related to vaccines and the immune system and tends to narrate many irrelevant details.
That said, the book does a good job at demystifying vaccine concerns, and it serves as a good primer for readers seeking a basic understanding of COVID-19 vaccines. At the end of the book, there’s an informative appendix of COVID-19 vaccine candidates as well as a comprehensive reference list for each chapter divided into General and Specific Reading.
The book consists of 8 chapters. In the first 3 chapters, the author takes a historical approach to describe the SARS outbreak, the discovery of coronaviruses, the structure of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, theories about how antibodies work, how scientists came to understand the structure and shape of antibodies, the role of T-cells and surveillance cells, the importance of adjuvants in provoking an immune response, variolation and how the first vaccines were discovered, and viral vectors and their use in vaccines. Chapters 4 and 5 are, in my opinion, the key chapters of the book. In chapter 4, the author explains the 6 stages in the development of a new vaccine, while in chapter 5, he goes through the 6 types of vaccines (with a focus on COVID-19 vaccines) and types of adjuvants used in these vaccines. Later chapters discuss the hurdles and logistical challenges regarding mass production of vaccines, their delivery, and the issue of vaccine hesitancy.
A book about "how vaccines are made" is a timely book with a great promise, but I was a little disappointed. First, the book is devoid of any illustrations. Second, the title is a bit misleading as the book's main focus is NOT "how to make a vaccine". Rather, the author focuses more on personal and historical contexts of scientific discoveries related to vaccines and the immune system and tends to narrate many irrelevant details.
That said, the book does a good job at demystifying vaccine concerns, and it serves as a good primer for readers seeking a basic understanding of COVID-19 vaccines. At the end of the book, there’s an informative appendix of COVID-19 vaccine candidates as well as a comprehensive reference list for each chapter divided into General and Specific Reading.
December 21, 2022
Great information on vaccine development through history, plus some immunology history too. Fairly quick to read though sometimes a little technical.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews