Meet the Authors

Abraham Johns, MD (pseudonym) is a physician who has had long careers in both academic medicine and pharmaceutical research. Currently, he consults with biotech companies on clinical development topics related to new drug development. His pseudonym is a combination of Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson, two presidents who made great contributions to the advancement of civil rights. While not a writer by trade, Dr. Johns was passionate about co-authoring this novel so that it might serve as an instrument of change for the greater good.
Abraham Johns, MD
Pam Lazos is an environmental lawyer, freelance editor, and ghostwriter. She has authored the enviro-thriller Oil and Water, about oil spills and green technology, Six Sisters, a collection of novellas about family, dysfunction, and the ties that bind us, the children's book Into the Land of the Loud, creator of the literary and enviro blog www.greenlifebluewater.earth, blogger for the Global Water Alliance (GWA) in Philadelphia, PA; and an issues editor for the International Journal of Water Equity and Justice (University of Pennsylvania). She practices laughter daily.
Pam Lazos

Other Books by The Authors

Six Sisters

“Six Sisters” is a collection of three novellas about family, dysfunction, and the emotional ties that bind us.

Oil and Water

“Oil and Water,” an environmental thriller about oil spills and green technology, follows four at-risk siblings who struggle to outpace the oil company in bringing their world-altering technology to market.

why RSV?

We chose the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for this story because several RSV vaccines were currently in development and likely to come to market, thus making this a timely topic. The recently licensed RSV vaccines represent a significant breakthrough in the care of adults and hopefully these vaccines will soon also be indicated for children. Before the release of these two vaccines, RSV was the most dangerous winter virus not yet covered by vaccination.  The US CDC reports that each in the United States, RSV leads to approximately:

  • 2.1 million outpatient (non-hospitalization) visits among children younger than 5 years old.
  • 58,000–80,000 hospitalizations among children younger than 5 years old.
  • 100,000–160,000 hospitalizations among adults 60 years and older

 The path to licensure of an RSV vaccine has been extremely arduous due to the failure of the earliest prototypes in the early 1950s, as well as their propensity to make the disease worse in vaccinated children who then had natural exposure to the RSV virus. Due to this untoward reaction, the FDA and others have been very cautious about the development pathways for new RSV vaccines, and the bar has been set very high for licensure. GSK’s AREXVY and Pfizer’s ABRYSVO® provide older adults with a much-needed vaccine for RSV — and raise hopes for a vaccine option for infants, too. In the past 18 months, the FDA has approved two protein-based vaccines for RSV, a milestone that has eluded drug developers for almost 60 years.