Publisher's Synopsis
Dr. Avery Chambers, world-renowned clinical pharmacologist, faced an unimaginable dilemma. The Socius Vaccine was running through the veins of over one hundred million people around the world-all of them black. According to the data in front of him, they would all be dead within two years.
Avery pondered the data and reflected on his choices. He knew the ramifications of taking the information public, but he also knew that people needed to be told. Suddenly, he made a gut-wrenching decision about the worst public health nightmare in recorded history. He would remain silent.
THE SOCIUS VACCINE, a medical thriller, is set in an academic medical center in Phoenix and in the residence of the Vice President of the United States. NIH scientist Dr. Peter Fresoni had discovered a gene sequence responsible for hypertension in blacks, which led to the commercialization of a blockbuster vaccine administered to over one hundred million people worldwide. Suddenly, the black volunteers from the early human testing are all dead. With the lives of one hundred million people at stake, a team is formed comprised of Peter Fresoni, the Vice President of the United States, the Commissioner of the FDA, the CEO of the pharmaceutical company that markets the vaccine, and Dr. Avery Chambers, the Phoenix-based physician who conducted the early testing. In absolute secrecy, the team works through the possibility of an antidote that even if successful would treat only a fraction of the doomed patients. Due to the unfathomable repercussions of the deaths of one hundred million blacks worldwide, the team does not wish to announce the situation prematurely. However, significant pressure is placed on the team by an employee at the research center where the first trial was conducted-the only person other than the team members who knows of the deaths and their association with the vaccine.
THE SOCIUS VACCINE, with escalating tension over the course of one long day in Washington and Phoenix, addresses issues such as justice, fairness, scarce resource allocation, and racially-based conspiracy.
