It was seven p.m., and Jack had just finished a three-mile jog on the beach. On his way back to the hotel, he glanced overhead at a formation of gray catacombed clouds that had just moved in from the west. Feeling as if the temperature had dropped ten degrees, he crossed his arms across his chest. A few moments later his cell phone rang.
“You sound like you’re still running,” Marc said.
“I just finished a couple minutes ago,” he answered with clipped words wedged between heavy breaths. “What’s going on?”
“I have some interesting information on the flu vaccine.”
Jack slowed his pace. It was getting windier with each passing minute, but he decided to sit down on a bench instead of going back inside the hotel.
“What did you find out?”
“There are seven companies that manufacture the vaccine. Six of them are distributed in the United States. We wound up spending most of the day on the phone calling clinics and obstetricians’ offices trying to get a general idea of which vaccine each woman received. We were able to get specific information on one hundred eighty-one of them.”
“Was it an even distribution of all six companies?”
“Not even close. All of the women with GNS received a vaccine manufactured by one of two companies; either Aptiprev or Ontryx. They’re both European companies.”
“Are they distributing in Europe, because to my knowledge there are no cases there?”
“Not yet. The U.S. demand was too high.”
“You’re absolutely sure none of the women received the vaccine from any of the other four manufacturers?”
“No way. I’m positive.”
“Were you able to check with the FDA if there have been any problems with either of those two companies?”
“It took a while but I finally got through to them. They have no record of any significant side effects.”
Jack puffed out a few quick breaths.
“We need specific information from the two companies regarding the national distribution of their vaccines. We have to know if it’s available in all areas of the country where we’re seeing cases of GNS. We also have to find out exactly how their vaccines are produced. They must be doing something different than the other manufacturers.”
“I assumed you’d want that information so we’re already working on it.”
“Is Madison up to speed on all this?” Jack asked.
“That was going to be my next phone call.”
“And Dr. Morales?”
“I assumed either you or Madison would want to let her know.”
“Thanks,” Jack told him. “I’ll discuss it with Madison.” His feeling was that as a visiting professor, it would be more appropriate if the call came from Madison. “What do you think about getting some more help and expanding our inquiries to other hospitals across the country?”
“You must be reading my mind. I already have some new volunteers. I know it’s a little late but we’re having our first meeting in about an hour in the crisis center.”
After going over everything they had discussed again, Jack told Marc he’d speak to him later. He then headed up to his room to grab a shower before calling Madison. He assumed as soon as she brought Helen up to speed on the latest developments, she’d want a sit-down with Sinclair. She hadn’t said it in so many words, but Jack suspected she didn’t embrace his parvovirus theory. Jack clung to one hope: that for every hour Helen Morales could keep Sinclair from convincing the hospital board to support Vitracide therapy, he and Madison would be that much closer to finding the real cause of GNS.