The Vaccine

By Harry Katzan Jr.

For most people in the modern world, the pandemic of 2020 is the worst thing that ever happened to them. Practically everyone is tired of words like shelter in place, face mask, social distance, and wash your hands. Through wit and wisdom, Matt, the General, and their team solve the problem and put the nation back on its course.

COVID-19 is the name of the pandemic that appeared by surprise to the world. Businesses, restaurants, bars, movie houses, sporting events are totally changed. Medical responders and medical supplies are in short supply.

Then came the mutation to the virus causing the pandemic to turn the world upside down. The new virus is many times more effective at spreading the infection than the old virus.

Matt, the General, and their team of responders come to the rescue after a request by the President to solve the national problem, by finding the source of the virus and its mutation.

The President Daily Brief (PDB) on the subject of the mutation calls the President into action and the team to the White House to investigate the danger and save the day. With the military being no help in the matter, the team is called into action.

The stage is set in a math conference in Zürich to recruit a famous Russian virologist through a famous Russian mathematician. As part of the plot, the General goes international when he buys an apartment in Klosters, Switzerland.

An ingenious but dangerous plan to fly their Gulfstream into Moscow and extract the virologist is established and executed. The situation goes critical and a top-secret plan is established to bring the scientist to the States and form an effective virology lab under government control.

Throughout the execution of their ingenious plan, the team is forced to acquaint itself with pathogen technology.

The scientist is satisfactorily brought to the States. They had an operational problem in recruiting good operations people for the job.

Again, the General comes to the rescue through an ad hoc recruitment in his apartment in Klosters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781663217790

Harry Katzan Jr.

Harry Katzan, Jr. is a professor who has written several books and many papers on computers and service, in addition to some novels. He has been a advisor to the executive board of a major bank and a general consultant on various disciplines. He and his wife have lived in Switzerland where he was a banking consultant and a visiting professor. He is an avid runner and has completed 94 marathons including Boston 13 times and New York 14 times. He holds bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees.

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Copyright © 2021 Harry Katzan Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-1778-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-1780-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-1779-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021901891

iUniverse rev. date:   01/28/2021

CONTENTS

Foreword

The Team

1 Early November

2 The Next Day

3 Visit To The Pentagon

4 Discussion At The Pentagon

5 Return From The Pentagon To New Jersey

6 The Flight Home

7 Getting Ready

8 Preparing For The Math Conference

9 At The Math Conference In Zürich

10 The General’s Vacation

11 At And After The Math Conference

12 Return To The States

13 After The Russia Trip

14 Home In New Jersey

15 Back To The White House

16 At The White House

17 Back In New Jersey

18 Matt’s Plan

19 The Plan

20 Arrangements For The Trip To Moscow

21 Pathogens

22 The Flight To Russia

23 Meeting With Dr. Dimitri Aplov

24 The Flight Home And After

25 Making Final Arrangements

26 Final Report

27 Visit To Klosters

A Brief Afterward

About This Book

About The Author

For Margaret, as always

FOREWORD

Matt Miller and Ashley Wilson had been friends from the day they met in Dr. Marguerite Purgoine’s creative writing course. They commonly met at Starbucks to discuss life’s never-ending set of problems. Matt was an established mathematician and a prize winning golfer. Ashley had been a person seeking celebrity status. Dr. Purgoine, known personally as Anna for some unknown reason, was a distinguished professor and award-winning author. Matt’s grandfather, Les Miller, was a retired general in the U.S. Air Force, and subsequently the founder of an influential political polling company. He was referred to as the General, because of his collection of major accomplishments. The General was wealthy and liked to help people. This led to several keen adventures for Matt and the General.

For most people in the modern world, the Pandemic of 2020 is the worst thing that has ever happened to them. Words like shelter in place, facial mask, social distance, and wash our hands for 20 seconds are commonplace. Businesses, restaurants, bars, movie houses, sporting events are totally, if not partially, changed, and many people think our way of life in modern countries will never return.

COVID-19 is the name of the pandemic that took most people by surprise. History will say that it originated in China and spread from there to the rest of civilized society. The virus is highly contagious, and people were encouraged to maintain a social distance from other individuals when out in public and to stay indoors when possible. The wearing of facemasks was advised, and many people wore gloves and protective clothing. Medical supplies and first responders were in short supply, and the death rate was high for a sickness of its kind. In the beginning, there was no vaccine to prevent the virus, and no medicines to cure persons, once they were unlucky enough to attract it. Later, a vaccine was developed.

But, we’re getting ahead of the story. What is a pandemic and where did the term come from? To begin, where did the terminology start? An endemic is sickness that belongs to a particular people or country, and an outbreak is a greater-than-anticipated increase in the number of endemic cases. If an outbreak is not controlled, it is called an epidemic. Lastly, a pandemic is an epidemic that spreads over multiple countries or continents and affects a large number of people. The sequence is endemic > outbreak > epidemic > pandemic.

Government leaders are concerned with pandemics from several different points of view. The most important point of view is clearly how to identify it, cure it, and prevent it. The source is very important, as well as how it affects various groups of people. Eventually, scientists get around to whether it is natural or man-made, and if so, who did it.

This novel attempts to answer some of these questions in a common form of entertainment.

Matt and the General have other adventures, like the time they assisted the royal family and later solved the information leak in the White House.

THE TEAM

The General – Les Miller. Former military General and Humanitarian. P-51 pilot and war hero. Has bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees.

Matthew (Matt) Miller – Professor of Mathematics. Has PhD degree. Grandson of the General.

Ashley Wilson Miller – College friend of Matt Miller. Former Duchess of Bordeaux. Married to Matt Miller. Receiver of the National Medal of Freedom.

Amelia Robinson – Citizen of the United States and former mole working for the United States and Russia. Has a PhD from studies in Russia.

Marguerite Purgoine - Retired creative writing Professor and an associate of the team. Has PhD degree. Known as Anna for some unknown reason.

Sir Charles (Buzz) Bunday – P-51 pilot. Army Air Force buddy of Les Miller. Member of the British Security Service. Knight of the United Kingdom.

Harper (Harp) Thomas – Professor of Mathematics at ETH. Buddy of Matt’s in graduate school. Has PhD degree in mathematics.

Kimberly Jobsen Thomas – Consultant to a Swiss Bank. Married to Harper Thomas. Has masters degree in business.

Sir Prince Michael (Davis) – Duke of Bordeaux. Professor of Astrophysics. Knight of the United Kingdom. Has PhD degree in astrophysics.

Others

Kenneth Strong – President of the United States.

Alexi Belov – Russian mathematician.

Dimitri Alapov – Russian virologist.

1

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EARLY NOVEMBER

The sky was blue, the breeze was balmy, and life was good for the General. He had been watching TV and reading USA Today on his cell phone, and things did not look good for the common people in America. The pandemic had surged and the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays were forecast to raise the infection rate even more. There were 2,000 new infections in one day in November. Practically every news source advised travelers to stay home and emphasized facemasks, social distancing, and hand washing. Most people realized that a large number of travelers would ignore the social predictions, and be susceptible to the virus. Many would be hospitalized, and some of them would die.

The General called Matt and invited him and his wife Ashley to dine in the Green Room Restaurant that he owned. The restaurant had been primed as a defense against the coronavirus for more than a year. He would be bringing his friend, the retired professor Mme. Purgoine, known as Anna for some unknown reason.

The group dined in a special upstairs room which was cleaned regularly against the virus. The group removed their masks in order to talk and eat.

Matt initiated the conversation. Hello everyone. It’s been some time since we got together. Almost everyone that I know has been sheltering in place because of the virus.

No one said a word. Finally Anna replied, I think we’re here to talk about the coronavirus. What else is there to discuss? We rarely see or speak to anyone. I’ve finished all of my writing plans.

So have I, said Ashley.

I admit that I have finished my work, as well, said Matt. I wrote a paper for a conference, and it was completed in record time. I’m teaching all of my courses online, and my PhD student meets with me via email.

Is there anything we can do? asked the General. We have the three needed resources, time, brains, and money. We have been very successful in the past.

"One of the questions that has never been truly