"Engaging, accessible and ultimately optimistic account" – BBC Medical Editor Fergus Walsh

"Disease X sets out a game-changing plan for how the world can learn from Covid-19 and be ready for the next pandemic." – Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister (foreword)

What if the next global pandemic isn’t a replay of COVID-19, but something faster, deadlier, and harder to stop? In 2018, the World Health Organization added a chilling new entry to its list of priority epidemic threats: “Disease X” — a placeholder for the unknown pathogen that could trigger a serious international outbreak.

In Disease X, science journalist and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) insider Kate Kelland takes you behind the scenes of pandemic preparedness, global health security and vaccine innovation. With rare access to the people building the world’s defences, Kelland shows how we can spot a new virus early, respond at pandemic speed, and deliver safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines in as little as 100 days.

This is gripping pandemic nonfiction that reads with the urgency of a medical thriller, but it’s grounded in evidence, history, and the hard lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic: exponential spread, R0, variants, overwhelmed hospitals, lockdowns, and the staggering human and economic costs.

Inside you’ll explore:

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  Why emerging infectious diseases and zoonotic spillover (from bats, birds, primates and other wildlife) make future epidemics more likely: SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika, Nipah, Marburg, Lassa, bird flu and swine flu
  
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  How pandemic response fails when leaders “wait and see,” and how it succeeds when decision‑makers act fast through the fog of war
  
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  The 100 Days Mission: a bold roadmap to compress vaccine R&D from genetic sequencing to clinical trials, manufacturing scale‑up and rapid rollout
  
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  The technologies powering next‑generation vaccines and therapeutics: mRNA, viral vectors, plug‑and‑play platforms, rapid testing, and global genomic surveillance
  
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  Why speed requires risk: funding multiple candidates “at risk,” accepting failures, and building a portfolio—because luck is not a strategy
  
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  The essentials of outbreak control: early warning systems, data sharing, public‑private partnerships, supply chains, equitable access, and protecting low‑ and middle‑income countries
  

You’ll also meet the real-world pandemic worriers, virus-watchers, scientists and policy insiders who helped launch fast vaccine programmes and the global push for a prototype vaccine library — work designed to shorten the time from pathogen discovery to protection.

Structured as a mission‑ready playbook (Prepare to be Scared, Move Fast, Take Risks, Share, Listen, Fail, Spend Money, and more), Disease X lays out what must change now — before the next Public Health Emergency of International Concern becomes a once‑again‑too‑late pandemic. It even closes with a vivid near‑future scenario in which the world faces a new threat…and proves that pandemics can be prevented.

From the first reports of “mysterious pneumonia” in Wuhan to Davos boardrooms and vaccine labs, and to the WHO’s emergency debates under the International Health Regulations, Kelland maps the decisions that shape outcomes: when to sound the alarm, when to restrict travel and gatherings, when to deploy diagnostics, when to share sequences, and when to pour money into vaccine manufacturing, cold‑chain logistics and global delivery.

If you’re looking for a clear, compelling pandemic preparedness book that connects the science (immunology, vaccinology, epidemiology) with the politics (health security is national security, global governance, G7/G20 commitments) and the practical realities (regulation, scale, supply chains, equity), this is the must‑read guide to the next Disease X. Get your copy today and understand how 100 days could save millions of lives.

Perfect for readers interested in infectious disease, outbreak preparedness, pandemic planning, public health policy, vaccine science, and anyone asking: what will the next pandemic be, and how do we stop it before it starts?

With a foreword by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Reviews

“Disease X sets out how a mystery pathogen of the future could be contained before it goes global, but only if lessons are learned from SARS-CoV-2 and other global disease threats. An engaging, accessible and ultimately optimistic account of how nations, institutions and the scientific community responded to Covid and how they could work together in future.” – Fergus Walsh, BBC Medical Editor

“As Kelland argues cogently, fear of the next outbreak should not paralyse us but instead galvanise us into making sure the terrible toll of Covid-19 is not repeated. Disease X is a valuable policy roadmap in a world custom-built for pandemics.” – Anjana Ahuja, co-author of Spike: The Virus Vs The People

“With access to key players on the frontlines, Disease X takes us inside the effort to prevent future outbreaks from exploding into global disasters... this important book outlines why it will be vital to keep pandemic threats at the top of our priority list for decades to come.” – James Paton, former Health Correspondent for Bloomberg News

Buy the book and ready yourself for the next Disease X