Development of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine

Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert delivers the RSE President’s event on the incredible work undertaken to create a Covid-19 vaccine.

At the beginning of 2020, the first 'Disease X' outbreak, caused by a virus named SARS-CoV-2, occurred. Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert will discuss how as vaccine developers, she and her colleagues found themselves attempting to put into place plans that were not yet fully developed. And how rather than working to produce a vaccine which could then be deployed in the 'outbreak area', they found themselves attempting to develop a vaccine against a novel pathogen causing a pandemic whilst they were in the grips of that pandemic.

All are welcome to the RSE's signature events, designed to educate and encourage new thinking, ideas and conversations. This event aims to amplify the RSE's mission of 'knowledge made useful' by enhancing our understanding of national and global scientific, cultural and economic topics.