2001 Science in Society Journalism Awards

Newspaper

Sabin Russell, Reynolds Holding, and Elizabeth Fernandez

“Breakdowns mar flu shot program”

“Waiting for shots”

San Francisco Chronicle

Description

San Francisco Chronicle reporters Sabin Russell, Reynolds Holding and Elizabeth Fernandez told a compelling and suspenseful story about the flu vaccine industry that reminded some judges of Upton Sinclair’s accounts of the meat industry nearly a century ago. The reporters revealed the fragile underpinnings of an important public health effort — a shaky collaboration between government and commercial forces that relies on guesswork, outdated technology and delivery of 500,000 chicken eggs per day. News reporting is often directed toward the future dangers of scientific developments, judges noted, but this story shows the risk posed today from wide-scale implementation of a scientific achievement. The result was a shocking look the modern intersection of science and public health.

Last fall’s national chaos signaled a clear warning to Russell, a science reporter, about a flawed system that warranted greater understanding. He teamed up with Holding, who has a strong legal background and Fernandez, an investigative reporter. In addition to extensive interviews, investigative efforts included Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and acquisition of meeting transcripts from vaccine policy committees of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. What emerged was picture of a brittle system pushed beyond limits to vaccinate as many people as possible.

"All it takes is a subtle genetic change in flu viruses and we could have a pandemic like in 1918," said Russell, who hopes their stories add pressure to correct the system’s vulnerabilities. "I’d hate to write a story about how we were taken by surprise. The great irony about last year was that even though we weren’t ready and there were temporary shortages and panic buying, it was one of mildest flu seasons on record. There couldn’t have more painless way to get serious warning."

Biographies

Sabin Russell is a medical writer at the San Francisco Chronicle, where he has been a reporter for 15 years and currently covers medical science and health policy. He has a particular focus on infectious diseases, and has primary responsibility for the paper’s coverage of AIDS. In recent months, however, much of his work has involved coverage of anthrax and other biological weapons.

Russell’s work on AIDS has taken him twice to Africa, including coverage of the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa in 2000. With a grant from the Kaiser Family Foundation, he has traveled to Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe as well as South Africa. He has written extensively on the efforts to produce low-cost generic AIDS drugs in developing countries, and covered the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS this past summer. He has written or co-authored numerous investigative pieces. Topics include the failed merger of UCSF and Stanford hospitals; a probe of the controversial Nezhat brothers, three renowned gynecological surgeons recently suspended by Stanford for "seriously deficient’’ academic research; and the story of how a rogue medical laboratory faked results of HIV and hepatitis tests on state prisoners, and how California subsequently failed to retest inmates. Russell’s science articles have covered topics as diverse as apoptosis, or programmed cell death, to presbyopia, the reason why almost everyone over the age of 43 needs reading glasses.

Russell previously covered venture capital and entrepreneurs as San Francisco bureau chief for Venture Magazine; covered the Silicon Valley semiconductor industry for Electronic News, and began his career 25 years ago as a writer for community weekly newspapers in Vermont and New Hampshire. Russell graduated from Yale in 1974, and is married to San Francisco children’s book author and illustrator Ashley Wolff, and they have two boys.

Reynolds Holding is an investigative reporter and legal columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Born in New York, NY, he graduated from Harvard College in 1977 and Duke University School of Law in 1982.

He practiced law at the New York firm of Debevoise & Plimpton for nine years, specializing in securities offerings and financings for large industrial projects.

His career in journalism started between college and law school with the Shreveport (Louisiana) Journal, where he wrote news stories and editorials as assistant editor of the paper’s editorial page.

Holding joined the Chronicle in 1991 as a legal affairs writer, covering the courts and trends in the law. He began writing a weekly legal column, "Holding Court," in 1995, and became a full-time investigative reporter in 1997. His stories have ranged from uncovering deadly killings at California prisons to documenting financial fraud in Silicon Valley. In 1999, he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for a series of stories on the dangers of medical needles.

Holding lives in San Francisco with his wife Carol and daughter Carolyn.

Elizabeth Fernandezis an investigative reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. Previously, she worked for 15 years as an investigative and general assignment reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. She also worked as a staff writer for the Sacramento Bee, the Contra Costa Independent, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, and the San Jose SUN.

A native of California, she graduated from Santa Clara University and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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