Tell me when it's over An insider's guide to deciphering COVID myths and navigating our post-pandemic world

Paul A. Offit

Book - 2024

Four years in, Covid is clearly here to stay. So, what do we do now? Drawing on his expertise as one of the world's top virologists, Dr. Paul Offit helps readers address that question in this guide. Offit addresses issues like boosters, immunity induced by natural infection, and what it means to be "fully vaccinated". He explores the origin stories of the disease, tracing today's anti-vaccine rhetoric to 12 online sources and their disturbing impact. He explains long Covid and offers potential treatments. And he looks to the future, addressing whether we can make a better vaccine and if it should be mandated, and giving a list of 14 takeaways from this worldwide tragedy.--Adapted from jacket.

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  • Introduction
  • Part I. Where We Were
  • Chapter 1. The Origin of a Nightmare
  • Chapter 2. The Lure of Conspiracy
  • Chapter 3. The FDA Stumbles
  • Chapter 4. A Ticket Out
  • Chapter 5. The Misinformation Business
  • Chapter 6. Rogue Scientist: The Remarkable Story of Robert Malone
  • Chapter 7. A Pandemic of the Unvaccinated
  • Part II. Where We Are
  • Chapter 8. Booster Confusion: Who is Protected?
  • Chapter 9. Treating Covid
  • Chapter 10. Long Covid: What is It? Can it Be Treated? Can it Be Prevented?
  • Part III. Where We're Heading
  • Chapter 11. Can We Make a Better Covid Vaccine?
  • Chapter 12. Should Covid Vaccines Be Mandated?
  • Chapter 13. Is Immunity From Natural Infection Better than Vaccination?
  • Chapter 14. A Practical Guide to Covid Today
  • Epilogue Lessons Learned (Or Not)
  • Acknowledgments
  • Selected Bibliography
  • Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

This enlightening explainer from Offit (You Bet Your Life), director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, provides a physician's perspective on the Covid-19 pandemic. Following a q&a format, Offit weighs in on queries related to such topics as vaccine development, misinformation, and flawed messaging from government officials. Answering "how were Covid vaccines made so quickly," Offit tells how in spring 2020, an $11 billion infusion from the federal government allowed pharmaceutical companies to mass produce vaccines that were still in clinical trials because if the vaccines turned out to be ineffective, they could "be thrown away at no financial risk to the companies." Pushing back against the theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab, Offit explains that mutated spike proteins "virtually identical" to the one found in SARS-CoV-2 have been identified in multiple bat coronaviruses, suggesting the modification "was already present in nature" and not the result of human meddling. Looking ahead, Offit notes that even as Covid death rates come to resemble those of the flu, that still means up to 60,000 deaths in the U.S. annually. He advises anyone with respiratory symptoms to stay home until they recover from the virus. Skillfully combining scientific precision with an accessible style, this brings clarity to the uncertainties of the pandemic. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency. (Feb.)

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