Professor Sarah Gilbert and Dr Catherine Green tell the gripping inside story of the making of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. From the outset it was a race against the deadly virus that has caused - and continues to cause - devastation across the planet. They explain the cutting-edge science, and sheer hard work that went into the extraordinary achievement of making an effective vaccine against Covid-19, and at the same time giving us hope that an end to the pandemic is in sight. All the while, like everyone else, they were dealing with the challenges of living through lockdown and society's restrictions.

Sarah Gilbert is Professor of Vaccinology at the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, and her career has been dedicated to developing vaccines against disease. Since 2020, she has led the Oxford vaccine project. Catherine Green is Associate Professor in Chromosome Dynamics at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, a Senior Research Fellow at Exeter College, and Head of Oxford University’s Clinical BioManufacturing Facility.

Read by Samantha Bond and Debra Baker.
Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Elizabeth Allard Show less