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| Author | Devi Sridhar |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Published | Viking Press 2022 |
| Publication place | UK |
| Pages | 432 |
| ISBN | 978-0241510537 |
Preventable: How a Pandemic Changed the World & How to Stop the Next One is a 2022 memoir about theCOVD-19 pandemic byDevi Sridhar. The book documents the pandemic from the author's perspective as an advisor to theScottish andUK governments, with criticism of the latter.Preventable was met with positive critical reception, noted for humanizing the pandemic and the author's accessible style.
Preventable was written byDevi Sridhar, the chair of global health atEdinburgh University.[1] It was published byViking Press in 2022.[2][1]
Preventable covers the first eighteen months of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[2] The first chapter focuses on the origin of the virus and notes theChinese government's reluctance to allow aninvestigation of the origins of the virus, documentingSridhar's open-mindedness around theCOVID-19 lab leak theory.[3]
The book comparesCOVID-19 variants and their relative transmissibility.[1] It compares pandemic responses internationally, contrasting governmental responses inChina,South Korea,Vietnam,Senegal,Sweden,New Zealand, andAustralia.[1] It notes "over-confidence" from high income country government responses and critiques the tendency for high income countries to over-procure stocks of vaccines.[2][4]
InPreventable, Sridhar notes howNicola Sturgeon was more willing to take her advice thanBoris Johnson, whose activities are compared toJair Bolsonaro's andDonald Trump's.[2] Critique of Johnson continues, noting his absence atCOBRA meetings and his decision visit COVID-19-positive patients in a hospital.[1] The book is also critical of the UK'sScientific Advisory Group for Emergencies for theirgroupthink, their adoption of aherd immunity strategy, and their incorrect pessimism around the speed at which an effective vaccine could be produced.[3]
In the book, Sridhar discusses the online harassment she has received and Twitterdoxing attempts.[2] She also writes about catching COVID-19.[1]
The book suggests what could be done better in the next pandemic, which is described as inevitable.[2]
Preventable is noted for being easily accessible, praised for humanising the story of the pandemic, and is described by Elsa Maishman inThe Scotsman as the most readable of all recent COVID-19 pandemic memoirs.[2]
Sridhar's predictions are described as "prescient" and her analysis as "scathing" by Oliver Barns, writing in theFinancial Times.[5]
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