DISEASE X: The Full Story of Covid-19 and How We Prepare for the Next Pandemic

DISEASE X will be the definitive and enduring book on the COVID-19 pandemic. A full examination of the span of SARS-CoV-2, it will recount the true, tragic, real-time story of how avoidable this modern plague really was, the unseen international cast who worked to combat it, and the systems in place - and still needed - to prepare for the impending next, and possibly far worse, world contagion.

To tell the story, Wall Street Journal veteran, Pulitzer Prize-winner, and global public health expert Betsy McKay will draw on her depth of knowledge, scope of vision, and access to the critical players in the global pandemic, including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director and folk hero Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom she has on speed dial, and Bill Gates, who is at the forefront of vaccination development for Covid-19. DISEASE X will provide a clear account of how the Covid-19 pandemic began, escalated, and was driven back to the point at which we could go back to a new normal. It will offer an impeccably researched history of our relationship with infectious disease, as well as a dramatic look at the personalities that populate the global health system, a largely anonymous sector: the scientists and doctors and first responders; the researchers and the victims. And it will provide crucial information about the lessons learned from COVID-19 - the - steps needed from individuals and from the world community to be better prepared for the next killer pandemic.

Betsy McKay is a senior writer for The Wall Street Journal. She writes about U.S. and global public health. Previously, she covered the beverage industry, and public health in Atlanta, Georgia before becoming Atlanta bureau chief, managing a team of reporters covering the Eastern U.S. and several industries for WSJ. McKay first joined The Wall Street Journal in Moscow, where she wrote about Russia's post-Soviet political and economic transformation. She is a member of the team of Journal reporters awarded the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in the international reporting category for in-depth analytical coverage of the Russian financial crisis. She has won awards for stories on public health issues, including drug-resistant tuberculosis and maternity care in the rural U.S.