Vaxxers: The Inside Story Of The Oxford Astrazeneca Vaccine And The Race Against The Virus

Description

'An enthralling tale of toil, tenacity and triumph' RACHEL CLARKE This is the story of a race - not against other vaccines or other scientists, but against a deadly and devastating virus. On 1 January 2020, Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford University, read an article about four people in China with a strange pneumonia. Within two weeks, she and her team had designed a vaccine against a pathogen that no one had ever seen before. Less than 12 months later, vaccination was rolled out across the world to save millions of lives from Covid-19. In Vaxxers, we hear directly from Professor Gilbert and her colleague Dr Catherine Green as they reveal the inside story of making the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and the cutting-edge science and sheer hard work behind it. This is their story of fighting a pandemic as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Sarah and Cath share the heart-stopping moments in the eye of the storm; they separate fact from fiction; they explain how they made a highly effective vaccine in record time with the eyes of the world watching; and they give us hope for the future. Vaxxers invites us into the lab to find out how science will save us from this pandemic, and how we can prepare for the inevitable next one.

About the Author

Sarah Gilbert is Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford and a Senior Research Fellow at Christchurch College. Having devoted her career to developing vaccines against infectious diseases, since January 2020 she has been the Oxford Project Leader for the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. Professor Gilbert has over 25 years of experience in the design and early development of new vaccines, and a commitment to increasing public understanding of science. In 2021 she was awarded a Damehood in the Queen s Birthday Honours.

Catherine Green is Associate Professor in Chromosome Dynamics at the University of Oxford, Head of the Nuffield Department of Medicine s Clinical BioManufacturing Facility and a Senior Research Fellow at Exeter College. As a specialist in manufacturing vaccines for clinical trials, she is an integral part of the Oxford Vaccine project. In 2021 she was awarded an OBE in the Queen s Birthday Honours.