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NEWS REPORTER: Officials in China
say a virus which has killed

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nine people has the potential to
spread further.

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In different corners of the globe,

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a small band of scientists
had, for years, been preparing

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for this moment.

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We knew it was going to happen -
it was just a question of when.

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A virus can get from one corner
of the world

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all the way
to the other side of the world

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in less than 24 hours.

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Tasked with the seemingly impossible...

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What's happening? You got all the
bloods, eh?

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..suddenly, the fate of the world
was in their hands.

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NEWS REPORTER: Fears are growing
that it won't be possible

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to stop the global spread
of coronavirus.

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Covid-19 is our absolute worst
nightmare.

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Right now, there's one thing all
eight billion of us

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on Earth wish
for - a vaccine for Covid-19.

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Vaccines have saved more lives

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than just about any other public
health intervention in history.

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Vaccines are absolutely
mission critical

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in taking care of a pandemic.

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Over the past year, we've been on
five continents, behind the scenes

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following pioneering scientists
through every step,

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from vaccine design...

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I was right!

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3, 3.5.

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All right, going in now.

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..through make-or-break clinical
trials...

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The workload and just the intensity
of it,

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there's just so much pressure
to get everything right.

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..all the way to mass manufacturing.

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We currently have 200 freezers
on site,

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another 60 showing up today.

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My team spent
about a half a billion dollars

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before we had any idea if the
product was going to be successful.

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That's crazy.

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This is the story of how these
vaccine scientists

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harnessed cutting-edge technology
never before used on this scale,

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to achieve in months what typically
takes 10 to 15 years.

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You are so focused
on what you have to do,

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you do not think about anything
but how to get it done.

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A virus that knows no borders

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is taking a worldwide effort
to confront it.

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There have been sacrifices
along the way.

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TRANSLATION:

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These scientists took on one
of the biggest challenges

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in the history of modern medicine...

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There was never any guarantee that

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we were going to be successful with
this, but we had to try.

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..to save all of us.

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It's about protecting
the entire world.

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On December the 30th 2019,

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George Gao, one of the world's
leading experts

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in infectious diseases,
first got wind of something

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that would soon affect all of us.

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TRANSLATION:

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Gao's team in Beijing
immediately sourced samples

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from patients in Wuhan.

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Thanks to the latest rapid genetic
sequencing techniques,

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within days, they identified what
was causing the mystery illness.

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A new deadly virus had never
been identified this quickly before.

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The genetic sequence for
the new coronavirus

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sounded the starting gun
for vaccine scientists worldwide,

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already prepared for this moment.

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While Gao himself raced
into vaccine development in China...

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..other teams used completely
different ways

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of turning the virus into a vaccine.

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When the sequence of the virus
came out on January 10th,

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we were certainly prepared
and had determined exactly

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how we would make the vaccine,
in order to move very quickly.

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TRANSLATION:

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We saw the sequence, we thought,
yes, let's make a vaccine,

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but we'll pretend
this is the real thing.

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We'll get a great publication out

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and, you know, we can pretend like
we've saved the world.

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This really went quickly,
from practice

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to, "Oh, shit, this is the real
thing."

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My brother was living in China.

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I was aware of this virus
that was spreading.

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My phone pinged late.

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It was a late Friday night,
early Saturday morning

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that I got the sequence.

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RADIO PRESENTER: It's six o'clock on
Saturday the 11th of January

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and with the latest BBC News...

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Got up the next morning and
just sat in my bedroom in front

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of my computer, basically huddled
over it in my PJs,

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designing the vaccine.

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Dr Teresa, or Tess Lambe, works
at Oxford University in one

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of the world's pre-eminent centres
for vaccine development,

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the Jenner Institute.

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It's named after Edward Jenner,

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who pioneered the world's first
vaccine, over 200 years ago.

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Vaccines have worked the same way
ever since.

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The vaccines trick your body
into thinking you have an infection.

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So you want a vaccine somewhat
to mimic,

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to copy a natural infection.

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Understanding what's causing
the infection

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is essential for vaccine design.

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Each coronavirus particle is filled

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with genetic instructions called RNA

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and covered in crown-like spikes
made of protein.

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Inhale one of these viruses

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and the spikes latch onto cells
in our airways.

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The spikes then change shape,

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fusing the virus
and the cell together.

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At this point, the invading virus
can replicate - fast.

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The spike on these viruses
is critical for vaccine scientists,

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because its unique shape is key
to the body's immune response.

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Typically, when we're making
an immune response,

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we'll want antibodies,

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and the types of antibodies
you want

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are known as
neutralising antibodies.

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Antibodies are like the defensive
part of your immune system.

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Neutralising antibodies block
the coronavirus,

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to prevent it from invading cells.

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These antibodies are shaped
so they bind tightly

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to the spike protein.

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When people are infected,
their blood becomes filled

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with these antibodies, to fight
off the virus, which also helps

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protect them from being infected
again.

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They're almost like a trained army,

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so when they see a real virus,

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they're ready to spring,
they're ready to fight,

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they're ready to clear
a real infection.

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In January 2020,

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there were four main types
of vaccine in development.

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Oxford's is what's known as a viral
vector -

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a vaccine they'd already made
in preparation

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for just this kind of new threat.

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All they needed was
the genetic sequence from China.

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What our vaccine is,
it's a common cold virus.

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We've crippled it,
so we've knocked the legs off it,

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it doesn't replicate,

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and what we've done is we've then
taken a small, tiny part

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of the new coronavirus and we've put
that into a common cold virus.

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That tiny part is
the coronavirus spike gene,

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which the Oxford vaccine seeks to
smuggle into the body

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inside a common cold virus.

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It is this genetic code that enables
our cells to make the spike protein.

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Which the body then recognises
as foreign,

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triggering an antibody response.

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What your body sees is this small
part of the new coronavirus

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and mounts a strong immune response
to it.

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After design, the vaccine must
be tested

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to ensure it's safe and effective,

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first in animals, and then in
three phases of human trials.

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These start small, but eventually
involve tens of thousands of people.

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For a normal vaccine programme,
you'll typically have me say

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that it takes up to ten years.

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We didn't have that time.

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So while we were designing
the vaccine,

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we were already talking to people
about doing the preclinical work

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and we were already planning
for phase one.

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We're working with people
in Montana and also in Australia,

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so a lot of late nights, a lot
of early mornings,

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a bit of insomnia
and a lot of hard work.

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It wasn't really a choice.

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This is what I do -
I have to do it.

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In Brisbane, Australia,
a molecular virologist

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was also quick off the mark.

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Hey, Millie, will you feed
the chooks, please, sweetheart?

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She's all grown up.
She can do it herself.

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Dr Keith Chappell of the University
of Queensland

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was just one year into
a new vaccine research project

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when Covid-19 struck.

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While Oxford's vaccine is a viral
vector containing the spike gene,

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Keith's vaccine is composed
of the spike protein itself.

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Protein vaccines are the vaccine
that's tried and true.

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You know, hep B vaccine is protein,

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some flu vaccines,
so proteins are...

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..the vaccines that have been shown
to work.

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It really is the most simple type
of vaccine.

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It's just a small
component of the virus

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and it's combined with a chemical
called an adjuvant,

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which says to your body, "Look out.

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"This is what is potentially
a nasty pathogen.

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"Make an immune response to that."

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Using the coronavirus spike protein
as a vaccine

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presents Keith's team
with a key challenge.

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It's a very big day.

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A spike protein is highly flexible,

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it wants to fall apart,

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it wants to flip
into other structures.

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What we've got is
the molecular clamp.

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It's like a bulldog clip that holds
it together

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and allows it to stay 100%
in that structure

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that's present on the surface
of the virus.

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The shape of
the coronavirus spike protein

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before the virus meets our cells

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is what triggers the most protective
antibody response.

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So Keith must make the spike
protein in the lab,

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locking it into exactly
the same shape

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by adding another protein that acts

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a bit like a clamp.

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And that protein is
a tiny fragment of HIV.

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The reason we chose this protein
is because it's so well-understood,

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it's a highly stable structure.

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There is absolutely no risk from
this type of vaccine,

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there's nothing that makes
HIV replicate.

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There is only one small fragment
of a protein

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that is also present in HIV.

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Then we hit go.

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And it does it all for me and it
makes all those cool "woo" sounds.

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That's your robot.

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Protein vaccines
are a well-established technology,

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so even a unique vaccine design
like Keith's

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can be cheaply and easily
manufactured around the world.

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Potentially vital
for reaching developing countries.

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We've got a key core team,
which is Julia, Selorm, Danushka,

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specifically employed
for vaccine development.

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They have, you know, the real focus
and drive to, you know, put

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in the hours and work together.

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My father-in-law passed on
because of the pandemic,

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so for me and my family,
it would be good news to know

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that the vaccine that
UQ is developing

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proved to be successful.

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Coming from Africa, I'm very much
aware of infectious disease

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that affects so many people,

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so trying to develop vaccines
has always been a passion for me.

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And the loss of this loved one
even made it more important.

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Let's get this colony PCR on

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and then have to start
splitting the CHO cells.

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When you're working
on this thing, you see the amount

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of effort that the team
is putting in.

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You want to succeed,

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you want to be the ones
that get a vaccine out there.

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Making the only Australian vaccine

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put Keith in the spotlight.

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Yeah, I'm a star.

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HE CHUCKLES
Good luck. Thanks, mate.

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Yeah, our status around the
university has kind of skyrocketed

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with all the notoriety
and everything.

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So, yeah, it's been interesting
to go from just being one

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of the new academics, I guess,
to right in the limelight.

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Probably the most important project
in the university.

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You're a superstar now,
aren't you? That's me.

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The cameras following you.

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NEWSREADER: Coronavirus is now
spreading at a faster rate

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around the world than in China,
says the World Health Organization.

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Almost 40 countries are affected.

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KETTLE WHISTLES

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TRANSLATION:

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George Gao is China's
chief scientist

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in charge of tackling Covid-19.

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A veteran of fighting
bird flu and SARS,

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he favoured a traditional approach
to vaccine development.

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To create an inactivated virus
vaccine,

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the Chinese team take the
coronavirus

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00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:11,280
and treat it with a chemical
to damage its genome

250
00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:13,440
and stop it replicating,

251
00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,200
while leaving the surface structures
of the virus,

252
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,520
including the spike, intact.

253
00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,880
Injecting this inactivated virus
into the body should trigger

254
00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:26,640
a strong antibody response.

255
00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,680
Not just antibodies
against the spike,

256
00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:34,240
but also other antibodies
against the rest of the virus.

257
00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:39,320
If it works, this should offer good
protection from future infection.

258
00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:45,920
In a high-level bio-safety facility,
Gao's team first had to grow

259
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,560
a large quantity of
the deadly virus.

260
00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:09,200
George Gao's chief cook
is Professor Wu Guizhen,

261
00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,120
responsible for bio-safety at
Chinese CDC.

262
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,440
It was Wu's task to grow the virus
samples

263
00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:18,480
that would become the seed stock

264
00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:21,480
for China's inactivated
coronavirus vaccines.

265
00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:53,200
Wu had to choose a stock
of coronavirus

266
00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:55,800
that most closely matched
the dominant strain

267
00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,840
infecting people in early 2020,

268
00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,400
because the closer the match,
the better the immune protection.

269
00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:10,440
While inactivated vaccines like
China's have been used for decades,

270
00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:15,520
an entirely new method was chosen
by a big pharma giant in America.

271
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:21,160
Pfizer's vast research
and development centre

272
00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:23,040
is in Pearl River, New York.

273
00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,320
Over the years, we have a huge
portfolio of vaccine

274
00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,960
addressing all kinds of
infectious diseases.

275
00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:32,640
I mean, we are talking hundreds

276
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:34,600
and hundreds of millions of doses

277
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,840
of vaccines that are being produced
every year.

278
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:42,320
All right.
Jess, I didn't take my iPhone.

279
00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,680
I have no idea what I have to do.

280
00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:48,440
Dr Kathrin Jansen leads a team
of 650 people

281
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,720
as Pfizer's Head of Vaccine Research
and Development.

282
00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:57,160
Smuggled out of East Germany
at just two years old,

283
00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,200
her family started life
in the West with just the clothes

284
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:01,520
on their backs.

285
00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,520
I had whooping cough as a child,

286
00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:10,760
and, you know, you get a medication
that stops your cough.

287
00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:14,160
That is impressive.

288
00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:19,960
And so I thought that would be
wonderful, to work in a field

289
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:25,200
where you could develop, you know,
those little pills that would make

290
00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:27,400
people feel better.

291
00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,280
Kathrin teamed up with a long-time
collaborator

292
00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:35,160
from a small German biotech
company - Dr Ugur Sahin.

293
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:36,960
TRANSLATION:

294
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,720
I said immediately, "Yes,
we'd better get going on this."

295
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,280
So we started the work together

296
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,600
before the official contracts
were signed.

297
00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:11,320
BioNTech and Pfizer's vaccine takes
a ground-breaking new approach never

298
00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:16,360
before licensed for use in humans,
called messenger, or mRNA.

299
00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:21,680
Instead of smuggling the spike gene

300
00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:23,680
into the body inside another virus,

301
00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:25,920
like Oxford's viral vector...

302
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,000
..Pfizer first make a copy of
the spike gene in the lab,

303
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,440
made from a type of genetic code
called mRNA.

304
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,320
And then deliver this into the body

305
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,000
in a protective bubble of fat,
or lipid.

306
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:45,960
Once inside a cell, the bubble
breaks down

307
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,560
and the coronavirus spike is built.

308
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:53,520
Again, triggering those
all-important antibodies.

309
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,560
The vaccine approaches
that we had lots of experience with,

310
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:38,120
we rejected all of them.

311
00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:41,040
The attractiveness of
the RNA platform

312
00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:44,960
is that it allows you to adapt
very quickly,

313
00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,600
you can go really at light speed.

314
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:53,000
The only cons in people's mind
is that there has never

315
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,160
been a vaccine produced
on the RNA platform,

316
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,560
so it was, I guess, a fear
of the unknown.

317
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,160
Pfizer, one of the largest companies
in the world,

318
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:10,760
tested not one, but four different
versions of BioNTech's mRNA vaccine.

319
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:18,000
This huge infrastructure
that was tested and proven

320
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:22,960
was at our fingertips, with
really unlimited resources,

321
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:25,200
so we didn't have to worry
about money,

322
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:27,640
we didn't have to worry about,
you know,

323
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,920
is this approach a little cheaper
than that approach?

324
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:35,960
All of those considerations
were gone.

325
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,720
Another mRNA vaccine,
was also being developed

326
00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:44,240
at America's National Institutes
of Health.

327
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,320
And in early 2020, as the virus
spread,

328
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,040
the US top biomedical
research centre

329
00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:54,520
was already several steps ahead.

330
00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:59,800
I didn't know if we could beat it
or not, but we felt we had a way

331
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:04,800
forward because of our experience of
other respiratory viruses.

332
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:09,120
Dr Barney Graham is Deputy Director
of the Vaccine Research Centre

333
00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,240
at the NIH.

334
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,760
For decades, he's developed
new vaccines for emerging diseases,

335
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:20,280
most recently against another
coronavirus, called MERS.

336
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,920
By the end of 2019,
we had already made

337
00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,160
a MERS coronavirus spike protein
that was stabilised,

338
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,800
delivered by mRNA
and protected mice.

339
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:34,840
We felt like we had a way of doing
this,

340
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:38,000
and so we wanted to go
just as fast as we could.

341
00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,200
Using the method they'd honed
with MERS,

342
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,680
within weeks, Barney's team had
an mRNA vaccine

343
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,200
against the new coronavirus,

344
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,800
first testing it on mice,
then on monkeys,

345
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,960
to see if it induced
a strong antibody response.

346
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:02,960
This work was led by
NIH Lead on coronavirus vaccines

347
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,360
34-year-old Dr Kizzmekia -
or Kizzy - Corbett.

348
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,000
We did this so fast because we did
everything

349
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,240
for the last six or
seven years, very slow.

350
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,720
Why wouldn't you use all
of that knowledge that you prepared

351
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,400
to really deploy a vaccine
as quickly as possible

352
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:24,600
in this moment?

353
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,080
Hi!

354
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,200
Kizzy first came to NIH
15 years ago,

355
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,120
as a teenage summer intern in
Barney's lab,

356
00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:35,560
encouraged by family to follow
her passion for science.

357
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,240
You did such a wonderful job.
I just loved to hear your speech.

358
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:42,960
Thank you.

359
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,760
Ironically enough, I was interested
in coronaviruses

360
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,560
because most other
people were not.

361
00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:51,200
You want to build a niche,
and so you want to tap

362
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,440
in to some uncharted territory,

363
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,880
and the pandemic came and all
of that changed, for sure.

364
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,200
REPORTER: The World Health
Organization is expressing

365
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,240
new concerns about the spread of
the virus,

366
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,040
as more cases begin to pop up
outside of China.

367
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,120
REPORTER: The President and the
Coronavirus Task Force meeting with

368
00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:16,240
the vaccine makers, the President
trying to get a sense of timelines.

369
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:20,680
In early March, the NIH vaccine
was already just days away

370
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,160
from the first human trials.

371
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:27,080
It's because of the new technologies
that have been developed here.

372
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,080
The new vaccine
would be manufactured

373
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:32,640
by NIH's pharmaceutical partner.

374
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,520
We had this beautiful,
productive collaboration

375
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,360
with this biotech company -
Moderna -

376
00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:42,160
and they knew how to make vaccine
really fast.

377
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:47,320
And just 66 days after George Gao
sent out the virus sequence,

378
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:52,160
the NIH Moderna vaccine became the
very first shot against Covid-19

379
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,320
to be trialled in humans.

380
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:04,880
In Seattle, science writer
Ian Haydon was one of 120 volunteers

381
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,800
for this first
phase-one human trial.

382
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,240
REPORTER: Well, a glimmer of hope
in the fight against the coronavirus

383
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,680
with the first US trial of a vaccine
now under way.

384
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:16,080
It is Wednesday morning

385
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,640
and I'm on my way to receive
my first injection.

386
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,080
Phase-one clinical trials answer
the simple question -

387
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,120
is this vaccine safe for
a human being?

388
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:32,960
Is it going to hurt?
Have you had flu shots before?

389
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:34,400
Yeah.

390
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:36,680
Shouldn't be any worse than that.

391
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:42,360
The secondary point of them
is to, oftentimes, to find a dose

392
00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:45,560
that is suitable and safe,
but also elicits

393
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,960
really good immune responses.

394
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:52,080
Ian received the highest dose
being tested.

395
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:54,720
And then a Band-Aid's going
to go on that.

396
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,280
That was not bad. Good.

397
00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:01,400
So, a little over 24 hours ago,
I got my first injection

398
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,880
and I'm feeling fine.

399
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:08,480
I have no symptoms other than an arm
that's getting pretty sore.

400
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:12,960
Volunteers are monitored closely
as vaccines must reach nothing less

401
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,200
than the highest standards
of safety.

402
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,720
If you're planning to immunise
seven billion people on Earth

403
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:22,320
who are otherwise healthy,

404
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:24,880
you need to make sure what you're
giving them

405
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,680
is not going to cause
any long-term problems.

406
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,880
28 days after his first vaccination,
Ian returned for a booster.

407
00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:39,400
By ten in the evening, I started
getting chills all of a sudden.

408
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:41,000
I was shivering a little bit.

409
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:42,920
But I ended up falling asleep.

410
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,320
I woke up, though, in the middle of
the night with a pretty high fever

411
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,520
and nauseous, and with
a pretty bad headache.

412
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,040
Basically, all the stuff that I had
been told to look out for.

413
00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,240
We got to urgent care at about five
in the morning

414
00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:58,840
and the lead doctor on
the vaccine study

415
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,600
was already there waiting for us.

416
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,400
I spent a lot of time just alone
on the bed,

417
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:06,840
unsure of what was happening to me.

418
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,320
It was scary, it was scary
not knowing.

419
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,920
Some side effects
can indicate that your immune system

420
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,960
is really kicking in, but we have to
carefully monitor them

421
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,640
to make sure that the adverse
reactions are not worse

422
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:23,760
than the disease you're trying
to protect against.

423
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:26,120
And that's why we start small
and we start slow

424
00:28:26,120 --> 00:28:27,840
and we look at the safety profiles.

425
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,840
Ian's symptoms were the most extreme
of any volunteer

426
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,440
in Moderna's phase-one trial.

427
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,520
But two days later,
he was fully recovered.

428
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,600
Having worked out the right vaccine
dose - much lower than Ian's -

429
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,400
the scientists could move
towards phase-two and three trials,

430
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,920
testing it on hundreds
and then thousands of people.

431
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:03,080
But by the time Oxford, Pfizer
and the Chinese CDC

432
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,520
also had phase-one human trials
under way,

433
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:09,200
cases were surging exponentially.

434
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:14,600
REPORTER: A virus that knows no
borders is taking a worldwide effort

435
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:16,680
to confront it.

436
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:21,800
It was absolutely terrifying,
seeing graves being dug.

437
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,800
You know, we needed to do
all we could, and that's how every

438
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,560
single person working on vaccines
felt - I can guarantee that.

439
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:33,160
I did look at the dashboards
in the early days,

440
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,480
but as it became apparent
how this was going,

441
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:38,840
I didn't do a daily check

442
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,720
because that can incapacitate you,
that can slow you down,

443
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,280
that can put too much
of a burden on you.

444
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,200
We knew what we had to do
and we just had to get on with it.

445
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:53,480
With hopes pinned on vaccines,

446
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:58,960
by the end of May, there were over
120 teams in the race,

447
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,000
many now with massive government
support

448
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,440
totalling billions of dollars,

449
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,480
alongside new partnerships
with big pharma.

450
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:13,520
Queensland got the backing of global
biotech leader CSL

451
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,200
as other protein vaccines
also made progress.

452
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:24,680
Oxford advanced with partner
AstraZeneca on their viral vector,

453
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:29,280
while other vector vaccines gained
ground in America and Russia.

454
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,960
The Chinese CDC paired with
pharmaceutical companies Sinopharm

455
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,760
and Sinovac to scale-up production.

456
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:42,200
And the mRNA vaccines surged ahead.

457
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,120
Usually, mass manufacturing would
never begin

458
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:52,160
until all three phases of vaccine
testing are complete

459
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:55,200
and a vaccine is known
to be safe and effective.

460
00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,720
But by mid 2020, factories around
the world were already

461
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,640
preparing to churn out doses
on an unprecedented scale.

462
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:09,160
There are seven-plus billion people
in the world

463
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,080
and there is going to be a race
to vaccinate everybody.

464
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:14,120
We're going to need billions
of doses.

465
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:16,720
We really need more than one
manufacturer to be successful here,

466
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,800
because we have a big task
immunising the entire world.

467
00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:26,680
Kalamazoo, Michigan is home to
Pfizer's largest manufacturing site.

468
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:35,240
Here, Pat McEvoy
directs Covid vaccine production.

469
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,520
I've been involved in a lot of
projects, but nothing to this scale.

470
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:42,120
It's unprecedented.

471
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,920
This hallway's a little
over a-quarter-of-a-mile long.

472
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:51,120
This facility had to gear-up
to manufacture billions of doses

473
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:54,520
of a vaccine they'd never made
before.

474
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:58,840
The operation, here and across
Pfizer's entire manufacturing

475
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:02,920
and distribution network,
is coordinated from home

476
00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,760
by Pat's boss Mike McDermott.

477
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,360
And they're both looking to run
through the weekend, I guess.

478
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:12,240
MAN, ON PHONE: Oh, yeah, 24/7.

479
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,280
Manufacturing will typically take
three to five years to start

480
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,120
from scratch and build
the facilities and get them approved

481
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:19,760
by the agencies around the world.

482
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,960
So the notion of actually designing,
building and have it running

483
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,240
and shipping in nine months
seemed ridiculous to me.

484
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:31,840
Pfizer purchased $300 million worth
of raw materials to be ready to make

485
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,120
any of the four mRNA vaccines
being tested.

486
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:40,480
Though they had no idea
if any would work,

487
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:43,880
they also had to rapidly
expand production capacity.

488
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,400
You're looking into
our newest aseptic line.

489
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,000
It is a restricted-access
barrier line.

490
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,800
It's 100% dedicated to
the Covid vaccine.

491
00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:59,200
The company gave us all
the resources we needed,

492
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:00,760
so it was a blank cheque.

493
00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:04,000
Anything we could imagine, anything
that we could think of, we just did,

494
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,120
and that gave us a lot of speed.

495
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:10,040
This is the automated
visual inspection.

496
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:14,360
So there's 15 cameras that
are taking dozens of pictures

497
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,760
as the vials come through,
and they're looking for any defects.

498
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:24,800
Once their mRNA vaccine is made,
filled into sterile vials

499
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:27,760
and checked,
the final step is storage.

500
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:33,040
And while inactivated protein
and viral vector vaccines

501
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:37,240
are chemically very stable,
mRNA vaccines are not.

502
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:40,960
mRNA can break down very quickly,

503
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:44,200
unless kept incredibly pure
and very cold.

504
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:50,600
As wonderful as the mRNA technology
is, it wants to degrade,

505
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,040
so what we do is that we freeze
that mRNA

506
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:56,160
after it's made at minus 80
and it stabilises it,

507
00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:59,200
keeps it nice and quiet,
so it doesn't degrade.

508
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:04,920
Every two weeks, we'll bring
in three truckloads,

509
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,600
each containing 20 freezers.

510
00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:11,040
We currently have 200 freezers
on site,

511
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,040
another 60 showing up today.

512
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:16,760
This facility was built solely

513
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,040
for the storage of millions of doses
of the vaccine.

514
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:25,640
These freezers eject off an immense
amount of energy,

515
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:28,600
so we put in six air handling units

516
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,600
just to remove the heat load coming
off of these freezers.

517
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,840
With Pfizer's vaccine trials
still in their early stages,

518
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:40,440
this was a huge gamble.

519
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,760
My team spent about a half a billion
dollars before we had any idea

520
00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:45,960
if the product was going
to be successful.

521
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,800
That's more than unusual.
That's crazy.

522
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:55,400
With a big pharma partner in place
and the Australian government

523
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:59,200
pouring funds into Queensland's
protein vaccine,

524
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:03,240
Keith was working round the clock
as his phase-one trials

525
00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:04,840
also moved ahead.

526
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:11,080
30 seconds.

527
00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,040
Keith, how you going? Yeah, good,
thanks. Good to see you.

528
00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:18,640
Two, one, when you're ready.

529
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:20,720
All right, going in now.

530
00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:24,360
120 volunteers were
randomly assigned

531
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,240
to groups that received
either a placebo

532
00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:31,800
or a low, medium or high-dose shot
of the Queensland vaccine.

533
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:35,200
Everyone returning a few
weeks later for a booster.

534
00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:40,120
Hi. You must be Joel. You know,
we really appreciate you being here

535
00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,840
and go through this for us.
Appreciate you inventing it.

536
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:44,040
THEY LAUGH

537
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,320
What we're excited to see
is the immune response.

538
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:48,800
So, that's why we have you
coming back every couple of weeks,

539
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,520
and taking blood.
So we'll be analysing that

540
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:53,640
to see how it works
against the virus.

541
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:58,840
Their rapid progress made the
Queensland team headline news.

542
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:03,800
HE LAUGHS

543
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:06,160
How do you feel about that?

544
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:07,920
THEY LAUGH

545
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,280
That's all right. I liked that
movie when I was a kid.

546
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:12,080
Yeah, everyone loved that movie.

547
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:18,200
While Keith's team juggled plans
for mass trials and manufacturing,

548
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,920
just weeks into their phase-one
trial, initial antibody data landed.

549
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,080
News just in.

550
00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:33,800
The 5 microgram
and the 15 microgram doses

551
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,920
are identical in the level
of immune response,

552
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,120
so that is really good news. Yes.

553
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:43,800
The new results, which are the ones
that I've been hanging out for,

554
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:46,240
the immune response data,

555
00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:50,080
mid dose and low dose are
pretty much comparable.

556
00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:53,960
And a single dose
at the lowest dose we use

557
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:58,640
gives an immune response around the
same level as exposure to the virus.

558
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,280
That's fantastic news for us.
That's what we want to see.

559
00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:06,920
So, after we give these participants
their second dose, likely the vast

560
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:11,320
majority of the participants
will have an immune response

561
00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:16,280
that is higher and likely
more protective

562
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:21,160
than being exposed to the virus.
So that's absolutely phenomenal.

563
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:25,000
There's a lot of work to do,
but we're on the way.

564
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,760
Ooh, got him.

565
00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:33,960
For the team, we are feeling
on a high, but, you know,

566
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,200
I am literally exhausted.

567
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:39,480
I haven't had a good night's
sleep for...

568
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:41,080
..I don't know when.

569
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,760
Vaccine development has never been
done at this speed before.

570
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:53,040
What keeps you up at night is,
have I made a mistake?

571
00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:54,920
What will we miss and get wrong

572
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,520
that will cost us a week
and will cost lives?

573
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:02,240
You know, it's just constantly
running through your head.

574
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:13,080
By late July, the frontrunner
vaccine teams began publishing

575
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,800
results from their phase-one
human trials in the world's

576
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:18,640
leading science journals.

577
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:23,400
NEWSREADER: The biotech company
Moderna reporting some

578
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:25,360
promising results today.

579
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,360
The new data from the company's
phase-one trial shows the drug

580
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:32,560
appears to be safe and triggers
a robust immune response.

581
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,360
A team of scientists at Oxford
University say the vaccine

582
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:37,720
they're developing appears
to be safe and triggers

583
00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:39,520
an immune response.

584
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:43,360
..Early results published in
The Lancet, and so far, so good.

585
00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:46,200
That's the first big outcome.
You know, is the vaccine safe?

586
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,720
Is it immunogenic? And I think at
that point, collectively,

587
00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:53,400
everybody just went,
"Whew, OK, that's box one ticked."

588
00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:58,120
Prof Katie Ewer works alongside
fellow immunologist Tess Lambe

589
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:00,320
at the heart of the Oxford lab.

590
00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:05,800
And while Tess is focus
is antibody data,

591
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:09,240
Katie is the undisputed
expert on T cells.

592
00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:15,160
Most vaccines that are available
today work by inducing antibodies.

593
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:17,720
But for some diseases, antibodies
on their own aren't enough -

594
00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:19,320
we need T cells as well.

595
00:39:20,720 --> 00:39:24,880
If antibodies are the immune
system's defensive weapon,

596
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,360
T cells are trained to attack.

597
00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:33,480
Once exposed to the virus, they
become precision hunter killers,

598
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:37,880
ready to stem viral replication
by seeking and killing off

599
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:39,640
infected cells.

600
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:46,720
For Katie and her team, the success
of the Oxford vaccine

601
00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:51,720
could depend on whether it
stimulates a strong T cell response.

602
00:39:51,720 --> 00:39:54,600
We have to co-ordinate ourselves,
so we're not all trying to use

603
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,960
the same things at the same time.

604
00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:59,640
So, that's that for another hour.

605
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,840
Each week, they have to analyse
hundreds of samples

606
00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,280
from trial participants.

607
00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:08,680
When we take the blood sample from
one of our vaccinated volunteers,

608
00:40:08,680 --> 00:40:11,400
we do a particular test
on it called the ELISpot.

609
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:15,640
The ELISpot test counts the number
of T cells that recognise

610
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:19,160
and attack the virus one by one.

611
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:22,760
So, we're going to mix those
T cells in an ELISpot plate

612
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,080
with some small pieces of
the protein of the virus.

613
00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:29,280
If those T cells are able to make
a response to the virus,

614
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:32,680
we'll be able to see small spots
in the bottom of the well.

615
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:35,760
And each one of those spots
is the footprint of a T cell

616
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,920
that can recognise the virus
and fight it off.

617
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:42,600
After leaving the cells
to respond overnight,

618
00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:44,320
the results.

619
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:48,240
Go back.

620
00:40:48,240 --> 00:40:49,840
Nice and crisp.

621
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,760
Yeah, they look good.
And these are which group? 8?

622
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,160
These are 8B. Nice.

623
00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:02,440
Just the fact that there are T cells
that can recognise the virus there,

624
00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:04,800
you know, it's another little
milestone, that, yes,

625
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:06,200
everything's working.

626
00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:12,520
One of the things about this trial
is that we just process so many

627
00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,040
more samples and run so many more
ELISpots than we would ever do

628
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:20,280
on any other trial.
And when you know everybody's

629
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:23,120
exhausted, and everybody's worked
loads of weekends,

630
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:27,960
and I just hate being that person
who has to go in and ask everybody

631
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:31,480
again to just give a bit
more and try a bit harder

632
00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:34,280
and go a bit further, when everybody
has already done so much

633
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:36,480
and is already so exhausted.

634
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:41,840
REPORTER: What would normally take
years has been done in three months

635
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:44,640
by scientists at Oxford University.

636
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:48,080
Rarely has a medical trial
had so much riding on it

637
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:49,520
for so many people.

638
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:53,800
There's just so much pressure
to get everything right.

639
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:55,160
Come on.

640
00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,600
When you're there all day,
it's really nice to have

641
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,480
that separation and get
a bit of daylight.

642
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:07,400
You know, make sure I've sort of got
that space to switch modes,

643
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,760
if you like, from scientist
into family

644
00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:11,640
and not be still in my work head.

645
00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:17,120
What did you get up to today?

646
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:20,200
It's been hard not seeing the kids
as much as I'm used to seeing them,

647
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,640
and there have been times
when they've been like,
"When are you going to be at home?"

648
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:25,440
You know, and that's been
quite difficult.

649
00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:27,280
What did you get up to?
Xbox?

650
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:28,680
Aha.

651
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:30,320
Minecraft, or...

652
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:35,000
I haven't seen my parents
since the beginning of lockdown,

653
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,080
cos my mum was vulnerable,

654
00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:38,800
so she was shielding and then

655
00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:40,480
she became really unwell.

656
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,160
Just around the time that The Lancet
paper was coming together

657
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:46,240
and everything was being finalised,

658
00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:47,920
she was rushed into hospital

659
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,200
and passed away within a day or two,

660
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:51,840
which was just...

661
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:54,680
It's awful at the best of times,

662
00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:57,520
but having not seen her for so long

663
00:42:57,520 --> 00:42:59,800
and her missing the sort of...

664
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:02,800
..the kind of, the first big
milestone for the trial

665
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,040
of the paper coming out, you know,

666
00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:07,520
I was really disappointed
about that because she would

667
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:09,960
have been really happy
to have seen that.

668
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:13,400
And so that has been really
difficult to cope with

669
00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:15,640
on top of the workload and,
you know,

670
00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:17,640
on top of everything else, but...

671
00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:19,120
Yeah.

672
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:27,840
BBC NEWS: In the last 24 hours,

673
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:29,840
Brazil has reached
two million cases,

674
00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:31,280
India, one million.

675
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:34,040
And yesterday saw the highest
daily total of new infections

676
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:36,560
in the US - over 73,000.

677
00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:44,400
It's devastating to see
that we can't seem to

678
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,280
get this pandemic under control.

679
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:53,200
What keeps me sane is walking
in the park in the morning

680
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:55,240
and listening to the birds sing.

681
00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:59,080
Walking helps me to

682
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:01,520
get out of the thinking mode of,

683
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:03,360
you know, my work

684
00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:05,080
and really clear my mind.

685
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:11,160
At almost exactly the same time
as Moderna and Oxford,

686
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:13,560
BioNTech and Pfizer also released

687
00:44:13,560 --> 00:44:16,360
positive, early human trial results

688
00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:21,360
and Kathrin Jansen selected one of
their four MRNA vaccine designs

689
00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:23,480
to take to the next stage.

690
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:25,680
We saw data on one candidate

691
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:27,200
that looked good.

692
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:31,160
The candidate they selected looks
even better in terms of the
antibody levels

693
00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:32,400
and the T cell levels,

694
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:35,040
but that it is more tolerable.

695
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:37,720
I thought it was pretty spectacular,
though,

696
00:44:37,720 --> 00:44:39,720
to see those data.

697
00:44:39,720 --> 00:44:41,440
But then again, you know,

698
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,800
I cannot be too elated

699
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:49,080
because the biggest...the biggest
hurdle now that we have to overcome

700
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:53,920
is to demonstrate in a very large

701
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:57,000
phase-three clinical study.

702
00:44:57,000 --> 00:44:59,640
We now have to do the hard part.

703
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:01,200
Does it work?

704
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:04,080
And if it works, how well does it
work?

705
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:08,760
Pfizer now moved to phase-three
trials,

706
00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:11,360
involving tens of thousands
of people.

707
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,240
Usually, after early trials

708
00:45:14,240 --> 00:45:16,480
with just a handful of volunteers,

709
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:20,160
the next step would be phase
two with a few hundred.

710
00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:24,600
But given the urgency, these larger
trials happened all at once.

711
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:28,880
The care for the quality,

712
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:31,080
looking carefully at safety,

713
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:35,160
all of this was what I call
normal routine procedure.

714
00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:37,360
The process never changed.

715
00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:40,040
It's how we compress time

716
00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:42,640
and how we did parallel work.

717
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:44,680
That's really what changed.

718
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:49,000
To recruit the huge numbers needed,

719
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:52,320
Pfizer had 150
phase-three trial sites

720
00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:54,880
across five continents,

721
00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:57,760
and New York City was home to
one of the largest,

722
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:00,400
with 280 volunteers.

723
00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:04,640
At Mount Sinai Hospital

724
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:07,880
Judy Aberg was the lead
trial doctor.

725
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:11,880
It looks like in some parts of New
York it could be up to 6%.

726
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:15,000
I mean, this is just like starting
all over again.

727
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,640
Do you see it? Yeah, definitely.

728
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:21,600
You know, I will say that all
the participants are really hopeful

729
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:24,120
that this will be the vaccine
that works.

730
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:27,160
In any phase-three trial

731
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:30,600
the participants are divided
into two groups.

732
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:32,280
One group are given a vaccine,

733
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:34,280
the other a placebo.

734
00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:36,320
It's a busy morning.

735
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:40,640
We have 11 people coming back
for their second vaccine

736
00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:43,200
and then we have several
people coming in now

737
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:45,440
for their initial consent

738
00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:47,880
and then they too
would get vaccinated.

739
00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:53,600
It takes 45 minutes to thaw
and prepare each dose,

740
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:56,840
making sure to hide any clue
what's inside.

741
00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:01,800
This is vital
because the trial is blind.

742
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:06,040
Neither doctors nor volunteers
know who is in which group,

743
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:08,000
to ensure no risk of bias.

744
00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:15,080
Even if they're preparing placebo,
they have to take that 45 minutes

745
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:19,800
of time so that we remain blinded
to what's going on.

746
00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:22,240
All the way down
and then to the right.

747
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:26,560
What we don't want is people
assuming that they actually

748
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:30,480
got the vaccine and that it works,
so that they let their guard

749
00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:32,880
down because they believe
they're protected.

750
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:34,720
We absolutely do not know

751
00:47:34,720 --> 00:47:37,160
if this vaccine
is protective at this time.

752
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:40,800
So that's very critical
that people understand this.

753
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:47,000
The only way to discover
if the vaccine really does work

754
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:52,480
is to see how many of the vaccinated
volunteers fall sick with Covid-19

755
00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:55,880
compared to those
in the placebo group.

756
00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:57,760
And that takes time.

757
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:02,720
We need to register
a million more volunteers.

758
00:48:02,720 --> 00:48:07,120
The vaccine trial needs
Americans of every race, location
and medical condition

759
00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,320
to help in one of the most important
endeavours of our lifetime.

760
00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:16,880
Recruiting thousands of volunteers
on this scale and at this speed

761
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:19,480
had never been attempted before.

762
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:24,200
And in September, Moderna, who began
their phase-three trial on exactly

763
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:28,040
the same day as Pfizer,
revealed they'd hit a problem.

764
00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:33,480
40 of 45 participants in the NIH
Moderna phase-one trial were white.

765
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:37,080
Lack of trust, especially
in communities of colour,

766
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:39,640
is not without good reason.

767
00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:41,800
The shameful Tuskegee experiments

768
00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:44,120
occurred
within many of our lifetimes.

769
00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:47,560
In the 1930s, government doctors
conducted experiments

770
00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:51,680
on black men, leaving them
untreated for syphilis.

771
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:55,280
I was not surprised that there was
hesitancy around enrolling

772
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:58,320
in clinical trials
from African-American people.

773
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:05,240
The hesitancy comes from a history
of medical injustice

774
00:49:05,240 --> 00:49:09,600
that fuelled mistrust -
that is just undeniable.

775
00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:14,080
..Ideas that are going to contribute
to their scientific output.

776
00:49:14,080 --> 00:49:18,480
Given Moderna's initial failure
to recruit from diverse communities,

777
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:22,280
Kizzy increasingly
spent time speaking out.

778
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:25,960
The one thing that's important
around vaccine hesitancy,

779
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:28,080
black people actually
have never been asked...

780
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:30,800
When trust is stripped from people,

781
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:34,040
rebuilding it
is brick by brick, right?

782
00:49:34,040 --> 00:49:38,120
You know, you have to really
speak to targeted audiences

783
00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:41,880
and you have to speak with
a voice that people do trust,

784
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:44,120
and from a perspective
that they understand.

785
00:49:44,120 --> 00:49:46,640
It's telling about the way
that we think about science.

786
00:49:46,640 --> 00:49:48,240
Dr Graham said to me

787
00:49:48,240 --> 00:49:53,360
that for every 1,000 people

788
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:58,360
that we inform well enough
that they choose to get vaccinated,

789
00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:00,880
that's ten lives that are saved.

790
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:06,360
And when you're on a webinar
with sometimes 10,000 people,

791
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:09,600
the numbers add up,
and there's a big impact.

792
00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:11,920
You either do it or people die.

793
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:17,720
The death rate.

794
00:50:17,720 --> 00:50:19,320
Crazy.

795
00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:21,720
Scared the hell out of me.

796
00:50:21,720 --> 00:50:26,360
In Boston, 60-year-old
Anthony Shivers was all too aware

797
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:31,080
of the fears that surround
the virus and the vaccine.

798
00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:32,840
I got to find something.

799
00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:38,440
I'm going through my phone, I'm on
Facebook, and I see people say,

800
00:50:38,440 --> 00:50:43,000
"Don't take the shot,
because the shot will kill you."

801
00:50:44,760 --> 00:50:48,760
Imagine that? When I hear things
like this coming from black people,

802
00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:52,240
that really concerns me,
because this is a disease.

803
00:50:52,240 --> 00:50:54,680
This is not a me disease.
This is a we disease.

804
00:50:54,680 --> 00:50:58,200
This is a disease
that affects everybody.

805
00:50:58,200 --> 00:51:00,800
You understand what I'm saying?

806
00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:04,640
Despite the urgent need
for a vaccine, Moderna deliberately

807
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:08,960
slowed down their phase-three trial
to focus on only recruiting

808
00:51:08,960 --> 00:51:10,400
people of colour.

809
00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:13,800
I had heard that they needed blacks

810
00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:16,200
to get involved
with the Moderna trials,

811
00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:18,440
and a lot of blacks
weren't signing up.

812
00:51:18,440 --> 00:51:19,880
In order to solve a problem,

813
00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:22,120
you've got to be
a part of the solution.

814
00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:25,800
So I went to the hospital
and I got my first shot.

815
00:51:25,800 --> 00:51:29,600
I got a call from my sister
telling me she was
concerned about me taking the shot.

816
00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:32,880
After a month of calling
and me feeling good,

817
00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:34,520
now she wants to take a shot.

818
00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:36,720
Her husband's
going to take the shot.

819
00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:40,160
I got other friends taking the shot,
so I'm really happy about it.

820
00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:43,640
Look at me.

821
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:45,480
You know, ain't
nothing wrong with me!

822
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:46,960
HE LAUGHS

823
00:51:49,480 --> 00:51:53,680
For Kizzy, building trust in
vaccines is every bit as important

824
00:51:53,680 --> 00:51:55,400
as developing them.

825
00:51:56,960 --> 00:52:02,120
I have the ability to talk to
an Anthony Fauci or a President.

826
00:52:02,120 --> 00:52:06,400
And then also I have explained
the vaccine to my cousin,

827
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:09,000
who's in prison,
who I talk to very often,

828
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:10,440
and he gets it, too.

829
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:16,560
I'm happy to be
a connection to people,

830
00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:21,360
to this extremely confusing system

831
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:25,560
of how vaccines are made
and how are vaccines

832
00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:28,160
approved and how the trials work.

833
00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:31,600
Representing, like,
my community in that way,

834
00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:36,680
my purpose of resonating with
my community is a big deal for me.

835
00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:48,640
At around the same time that
Moderna had to pause recruitment,

836
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:51,920
there was breaking news from Oxford.

837
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:54,360
BBC NEWS: A major trial
of a coronavirus vaccine

838
00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:56,960
developed by Oxford University
and AstraZeneca

839
00:52:56,960 --> 00:52:59,240
has been temporarily halted
worldwide,

840
00:52:59,240 --> 00:53:04,720
after a volunteer
taking part in the UK fell ill
and was admitted to hospital.

841
00:53:04,720 --> 00:53:07,920
Pausing and stopping and holding
rules get triggered all the time.

842
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:09,520
This is normal.

843
00:53:09,520 --> 00:53:12,520
This is what happens
in clinical trials.

844
00:53:12,520 --> 00:53:16,680
The trial was paused because
of what's called an adverse event.

845
00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:19,120
As soon as a participant's
admitted to hospital,

846
00:53:19,120 --> 00:53:21,960
we have to look and see,
were they hit by a bus?

847
00:53:21,960 --> 00:53:23,400
Did they break their leg skiing?

848
00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:26,400
Or is there something else that
we need to look at more closely?

849
00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:29,520
I think people should be reassured
the trial pauses if something like

850
00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:34,280
that happens, because if it didn't,
that would be more concerning.

851
00:53:34,280 --> 00:53:36,200
During mass trials,

852
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:40,240
it's inevitable that some people
will be hospitalised or perhaps even

853
00:53:40,240 --> 00:53:43,200
die for reasons
unrelated to the vaccine.

854
00:53:44,720 --> 00:53:47,320
But every instance
must be investigated.

855
00:53:49,120 --> 00:53:52,240
What was unusual
was the glare of the world's media.

856
00:53:54,800 --> 00:53:59,560
We didn't expect... Well, certainly
I didn't expect for this type

857
00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:04,000
of normal activity, when
you're following up individuals

858
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:08,040
so carefully, to have
such a big impact around the world

859
00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:10,720
and to make...
To make headline news.

860
00:54:12,200 --> 00:54:14,440
In this single case,

861
00:54:14,440 --> 00:54:17,200
a link between the volunteer's
illness and the vaccine

862
00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:19,240
could not be ruled out,

863
00:54:19,240 --> 00:54:21,680
but given the minuscule risk,

864
00:54:21,680 --> 00:54:24,160
the Oxford trial
was deemed safe to continue.

865
00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:33,040
But the pause
set Oxford's progress back.

866
00:54:34,680 --> 00:54:38,120
And Moderna's delay
to recruit more people of colour,

867
00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:42,360
meant BioNTech and Pfizer
now seemed best placed in the race

868
00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:45,000
to get phase-three results first.

869
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:48,680
So this race is just kicking off
in the pivotal trial.

870
00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:53,160
Meanwhile, just a bit behind,
Queensland's vaccine was preparing

871
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:56,000
to embark
on its mass phase-three trial.

872
00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:04,560
The Australian government
made a billion-dollar deal

873
00:55:04,560 --> 00:55:08,800
to buy 51 million doses
of the Queensland vaccine -

874
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:12,200
enough to fully vaccinate
the entire population.

875
00:55:17,800 --> 00:55:21,800
But then, one night in October,
some unexpected news.

876
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:26,480
We thought our vaccine
was looking perfect.

877
00:55:26,480 --> 00:55:30,080
We've got good efficacy data
from animals.

878
00:55:30,080 --> 00:55:32,280
We've got manufacture.

879
00:55:32,280 --> 00:55:34,880
The safety is looking fantastic.

880
00:55:34,880 --> 00:55:38,080
And now we've got a problem
that we need to work through.

881
00:55:40,520 --> 00:55:43,640
This is a HIV diagnostic
that a participant who's

882
00:55:43,640 --> 00:55:47,320
received our vaccine - what
we're looking for here is this band

883
00:55:47,320 --> 00:55:51,480
that's showing up very faint
there, that would be considered

884
00:55:51,480 --> 00:55:53,720
a positive or a false positive.

885
00:55:53,720 --> 00:55:57,160
We've got this other version here
from a different company,

886
00:55:57,160 --> 00:56:00,200
and this version shows up negative.

887
00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:04,440
The problem related to the molecular
clamp in Keith's vaccine,

888
00:56:04,440 --> 00:56:07,480
built from a tiny fragment
of HIV protein.

889
00:56:09,160 --> 00:56:13,000
The trial revealed that some
participants not only test positive

890
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:16,520
for antibodies
against the spike protein,

891
00:56:16,520 --> 00:56:18,840
but also for antibodies to HIV.

892
00:56:21,120 --> 00:56:24,840
So what we did this week
was we purchased

893
00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:29,560
a range of diagnostics
that we could get our hands on.

894
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:33,720
The volunteers had not
been infected with HIV,

895
00:56:33,720 --> 00:56:36,160
but false positive HIV results

896
00:56:36,160 --> 00:56:39,200
in some diagnostic tests
are a big problem.

897
00:56:41,840 --> 00:56:45,080
You know, I don't think
it's a deal-breaker for us.

898
00:56:45,080 --> 00:56:46,480
We can find a way around.

899
00:56:46,480 --> 00:56:47,920
We just need to work it out.

900
00:56:56,080 --> 00:57:01,520
In China, George Gao and Wu Guizhen
faced a different kind of problem.

901
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:15,120
Their vaccine progress slowed

902
00:57:15,120 --> 00:57:17,720
because there was
so little Covid in China.

903
00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:28,160
Having crushed local outbreaks
so effectively,

904
00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:32,840
China's greatest threat was now
from the virus raging elsewhere.

905
00:57:32,840 --> 00:57:35,680
At Beijing Capital International
Airport, China's CDC

906
00:57:35,680 --> 00:57:40,200
conducting strict screenings
for international arrivals.

907
00:57:40,200 --> 00:57:44,400
A vaccine was still desperately
needed, but they had no way

908
00:57:44,400 --> 00:57:46,120
to test it at home.

909
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:06,960
The team pivoted, setting up
phase-three trials in countries

910
00:58:06,960 --> 00:58:11,720
around the world with high
Covid levels, and for Wu,

911
00:58:11,720 --> 00:58:14,880
there was pressure from
the authorities to deliver results

912
00:58:14,880 --> 00:58:16,640
as quickly as possible.

913
00:59:45,480 --> 00:59:50,360
By autumn 2020, impatience
for a vaccine was growing.

914
00:59:50,360 --> 00:59:53,400
BORIS JOHNSON: We don't yet
have a vaccine, unfortunately.

915
00:59:53,400 --> 00:59:56,560
You know, you really feel that
they must be on the verge of it.

916
00:59:56,560 --> 01:00:01,920
NEWS: Until they succeed,
the Government will consider
tighter restrictions on everyone.

917
01:00:01,920 --> 01:00:04,120
On the one hand, you've got
all these people saying,

918
01:00:04,120 --> 01:00:06,440
"Oh, we don't want a vaccine
that's been rushed."

919
01:00:06,440 --> 01:00:10,040
At the same time as everyone saying,
"We need a vaccine
and we need it tomorrow."

920
01:00:10,040 --> 01:00:13,920
You know, that's really challenging
when you're just under a massive

921
01:00:13,920 --> 01:00:16,760
workload because you don't know
what's coming next.

922
01:00:16,760 --> 01:00:20,400
As England went into
its second national lockdown

923
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:22,920
and the US election approached,

924
01:00:22,920 --> 01:00:26,320
international pressure intensified.

925
01:00:26,320 --> 01:00:28,120
DONALD TRUMP: Moderna
is doing very well.

926
01:00:28,120 --> 01:00:29,840
Pfizer is doing very well.

927
01:00:29,840 --> 01:00:31,920
The vaccine will be delivered
very soon.

928
01:00:31,920 --> 01:00:34,400
Could even have it
during the month of October.

929
01:00:36,240 --> 01:00:39,160
Politics should stay out of science.

930
01:00:39,160 --> 01:00:43,360
So it is the science, at the end
of the day, that you want to follow.

931
01:00:43,360 --> 01:00:47,200
There was a lot of political
pressure on the vaccine

932
01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:49,840
manufacturers to do things faster.

933
01:00:49,840 --> 01:00:51,640
This is a distraction.

934
01:00:51,640 --> 01:00:53,320
It's not helpful.

935
01:00:53,320 --> 01:00:55,560
And you block it out
and you just focus on the task.

936
01:01:00,440 --> 01:01:04,120
In phase-three trials,
even the scientists don't know

937
01:01:04,120 --> 01:01:05,880
when results will come.

938
01:01:07,720 --> 01:01:10,960
Each trial must continue
until a predetermined number

939
01:01:10,960 --> 01:01:14,080
of volunteers
test positive for Covid-19.

940
01:01:16,400 --> 01:01:22,320
Independent statisticians monitor
those cases in real time.

941
01:01:22,320 --> 01:01:27,440
Only when the threshold is reached,
do the vaccine scientists discover

942
01:01:27,440 --> 01:01:31,920
whether those who caught Covid
had the vaccine or the placebo.

943
01:01:33,720 --> 01:01:37,400
It's this comparison
which reveals efficacy -

944
01:01:37,400 --> 01:01:40,640
how well the vaccine works
to prevent disease.

945
01:01:45,960 --> 01:01:49,560
Now it's what I always say,
my least favourite game.

946
01:01:49,560 --> 01:01:51,200
It's a waiting game.

947
01:02:00,760 --> 01:02:05,360
I think that part of my anxiety
management has really helped me

948
01:02:05,360 --> 01:02:10,720
to see things for what I can control
versus what I cannot.

949
01:02:10,720 --> 01:02:14,200
So, preclinical data,
I could control it.

950
01:02:14,200 --> 01:02:17,400
So there's so much
anxiety around that.

951
01:02:17,400 --> 01:02:22,880
But when you give 30,000 people
a vaccine or a placebo

952
01:02:22,880 --> 01:02:27,080
and then allow them to go out
into the world, you're really asking

953
01:02:27,080 --> 01:02:28,920
the world to give you the answer.

954
01:02:28,920 --> 01:02:32,320
There's really nothing
you can do at that point.

955
01:02:32,320 --> 01:02:35,320
When you're working through problems
and you're working hard

956
01:02:35,320 --> 01:02:38,440
and you're moving with your team
and everybody is pulling in the same

957
01:02:38,440 --> 01:02:41,200
direction, you don't think
about this.

958
01:02:41,200 --> 01:02:46,440
But all of a sudden in this moment
of what will the results be,

959
01:02:46,440 --> 01:02:49,280
you just feel powerless.

960
01:02:49,280 --> 01:02:50,920
It's out of your hands.

961
01:02:50,920 --> 01:02:53,760
And now this is the moment of truth.

962
01:02:53,760 --> 01:02:56,360
And there's nothing
you can do about it.

963
01:02:58,600 --> 01:03:04,320
Then, less than ten months after
the race for a vaccine began,

964
01:03:04,320 --> 01:03:05,800
an answer.

965
01:03:07,800 --> 01:03:10,080
And it was Kathrin
who received the call

966
01:03:10,080 --> 01:03:13,880
from Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla.

967
01:03:13,880 --> 01:03:20,200
Albert called and he said,
"Kathrin, I have to tell you,

968
01:03:20,200 --> 01:03:23,720
"we are allowed
to say that your vaccine

969
01:03:23,720 --> 01:03:26,400
"is over 90% efficacious."

970
01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:31,320
NEWS: This is indeed a momentous
day. We've been waiting for these
results...

971
01:03:31,320 --> 01:03:33,520
News that a vaccine
against coronavirus

972
01:03:33,520 --> 01:03:35,400
has proved 90% effective.

973
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:39,240
I was just out of my mind,
you know, just laughing

974
01:03:39,240 --> 01:03:41,480
and dancing around there.

975
01:03:41,480 --> 01:03:44,360
It is a great day for science.

976
01:03:44,360 --> 01:03:46,800
It is a great day for humanity.

977
01:03:46,800 --> 01:03:51,640
In their final analysis,
of 170 volunteers who fell sick

978
01:03:51,640 --> 01:03:56,720
with Covid-19
during the trial, nearly all, 95%,

979
01:03:56,720 --> 01:03:59,600
were in the placebo group.

980
01:03:59,600 --> 01:04:03,240
For the first time, a Covid-19
vaccine has been shown

981
01:04:03,240 --> 01:04:05,440
to protect against the disease.

982
01:04:05,440 --> 01:04:08,520
We're talking about,
for the first time ever,

983
01:04:08,520 --> 01:04:10,320
people outside of a clinical trial

984
01:04:10,320 --> 01:04:13,080
receiving a coronavirus vaccine
before Christmas.

985
01:04:13,080 --> 01:04:15,200
So it's pretty, pretty
incredible pace here.

986
01:04:15,200 --> 01:04:19,080
This immense relief that, yes,

987
01:04:19,080 --> 01:04:21,960
now we will fight this thing

988
01:04:21,960 --> 01:04:24,560
and we will get the pandemic
under control.

989
01:04:24,560 --> 01:04:27,080
It's just like...
It's an amazing feeling.

990
01:04:27,080 --> 01:04:29,440
I mean, that's all I can say.

991
01:04:50,640 --> 01:04:54,120
Just one week later, there
were enough cases of Covid

992
01:04:54,120 --> 01:04:58,480
in the 30,000-strong NIH Moderna
trial to un-blind their data.

993
01:05:01,120 --> 01:05:03,320
Well, good morning.

994
01:05:03,320 --> 01:05:07,400
Good morning. Um... How's it going?

995
01:05:07,400 --> 01:05:11,040
I am calling you because

996
01:05:11,040 --> 01:05:13,520
we got results yesterday
and they're going

997
01:05:13,520 --> 01:05:16,800
to be announced in just
a few minutes by press release.

998
01:05:19,200 --> 01:05:21,000
OK!

999
01:05:23,640 --> 01:05:25,080
What did they say?

1000
01:05:25,080 --> 01:05:30,600
Well, there was 95 cases total,

1001
01:05:30,600 --> 01:05:34,040
and 90 of them
were in the placebo group.

1002
01:05:34,040 --> 01:05:35,840
Five were in the vaccinees.

1003
01:05:37,600 --> 01:05:39,040
Oh, that's...

1004
01:05:41,400 --> 01:05:44,000
Yeah, that's, uh...

1005
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:48,040
That's exciting! So it looks
like it's going to work,

1006
01:05:48,040 --> 01:05:50,240
at least for a while.

1007
01:05:50,240 --> 01:05:56,560
And of the 11 severe cases,
all 11 were in the placebo group.

1008
01:05:56,560 --> 01:06:00,040
So none of the vaccinees
had severe disease,

1009
01:06:00,040 --> 01:06:02,920
which is even better news.

1010
01:06:02,920 --> 01:06:05,120
That is... That is amazing news.

1011
01:06:06,320 --> 01:06:07,600
Wow.

1012
01:06:09,040 --> 01:06:11,200
I don't even know what to say.

1013
01:06:15,240 --> 01:06:17,680
NEWS BROADCAST: Breaking news
for you.

1014
01:06:17,680 --> 01:06:20,560
Moderna has just released
the first analysis

1015
01:06:20,560 --> 01:06:26,680
of its coronavirus vaccine and their
vaccine is 94.5% effective.

1016
01:06:26,680 --> 01:06:30,240
This is huge. Our experts are
being scrambled into position...

1017
01:06:30,240 --> 01:06:33,520
We expected it to work
to some extent,

1018
01:06:33,520 --> 01:06:36,400
but to 90, 95%

1019
01:06:36,400 --> 01:06:40,880
efficacy for what was essentially
a first in human vaccine

1020
01:06:40,880 --> 01:06:42,760
was astounding.

1021
01:06:42,760 --> 01:06:48,000
The relief that I felt was...

1022
01:06:48,000 --> 01:06:52,240
..overwhelming and...

1023
01:06:54,320 --> 01:07:00,160
..pleasing to the point that I just
had to just sit in it

1024
01:07:00,160 --> 01:07:01,920
for a little while.

1025
01:07:07,200 --> 01:07:10,280
With the news this week
of a potentially very effective

1026
01:07:10,280 --> 01:07:15,400
vaccine, countries are racing
to prepare for a possible roll-out.

1027
01:07:15,400 --> 01:07:19,560
But Moderna and Pfizer's vaccines
alone won't be sufficient

1028
01:07:19,560 --> 01:07:21,080
for the whole world.

1029
01:07:59,480 --> 01:08:03,560
This idea that no-one is safe
until everyone is safe

1030
01:08:03,560 --> 01:08:08,400
is the founding principle of COVAX,
the global scheme to ensure

1031
01:08:08,400 --> 01:08:12,880
distribution of vaccines
to the most vulnerable worldwide.

1032
01:08:14,360 --> 01:08:19,480
COVAX invested more than $1 billion
in several of the vaccines

1033
01:08:19,480 --> 01:08:25,240
in development, including nearly
400 million in Oxford-AstraZeneca's,

1034
01:08:25,240 --> 01:08:30,480
which can be transported in a fridge
and costs just $3 a dose.

1035
01:08:32,400 --> 01:08:38,080
They also backed the protein vaccine
being developed in Queensland.

1036
01:08:38,080 --> 01:08:43,000
But just a day after the Moderna
triumph, the team behind COVAX

1037
01:08:43,000 --> 01:08:45,200
contacted Keith.

1038
01:08:45,200 --> 01:08:49,640
Just got off the call, got some
news that really came

1039
01:08:49,640 --> 01:08:51,040
out of the blue.

1040
01:08:51,040 --> 01:08:54,560
Yeah, basically, we've just had
our funding cut.

1041
01:08:56,280 --> 01:09:03,840
So, yeah, we're out of COVAX. All
due to this HIV diagnostic problem.

1042
01:09:06,880 --> 01:09:10,320
Yeah, it's pretty devastating.

1043
01:09:18,520 --> 01:09:22,800
A lot of the people from our team
are people that come from...

1044
01:09:25,200 --> 01:09:30,680
..Africa, Sri Lanka, countries that,
you know, would be putting

1045
01:09:30,680 --> 01:09:35,360
their hand up for a COVAX-funded
vaccine.

1046
01:09:35,360 --> 01:09:37,920
They wanted to be part

1047
01:09:37,920 --> 01:09:41,640
of giving something to the world,
giving...giving back

1048
01:09:41,640 --> 01:09:44,120
to their communities and all
of those communities.

1049
01:09:49,160 --> 01:09:50,800
You know, the vaccine is safe,

1050
01:09:50,800 --> 01:09:55,840
CSL has hundreds of millions
of doses ready to go.

1051
01:09:55,840 --> 01:10:00,680
It's thermostable, so we can ship it
everywhere in a fridge

1052
01:10:00,680 --> 01:10:03,680
rather than at -70, -80 degrees.

1053
01:10:03,680 --> 01:10:06,640
There's just... Yeah,
there is the problem,

1054
01:10:06,640 --> 01:10:10,520
there is one problem, which is
the diagnostics for HIV.

1055
01:10:17,000 --> 01:10:19,240
PHONE RINGING

1056
01:10:20,880 --> 01:10:23,040
OK, yeah. I'll be down in a second.
Thanks.

1057
01:10:23,040 --> 01:10:26,800
Three weeks later, the Australian
government also withdrew

1058
01:10:26,800 --> 01:10:29,400
their funding. Yeah, no,
that's right.

1059
01:10:29,400 --> 01:10:31,440
The advice that we have received,

1060
01:10:31,440 --> 01:10:34,480
and the National Security Committee
of Cabinet met this week and made

1061
01:10:34,480 --> 01:10:38,480
the final decision yesterday, is
that the University of Queensland

1062
01:10:38,480 --> 01:10:44,200
vaccine will not be able to proceed,
based on the scientific advice,

1063
01:10:44,200 --> 01:10:49,880
and that will no longer feature
as part of Australia's vaccine plan.

1064
01:10:49,880 --> 01:10:55,200
With their place in the race over,
Keith faced the world's media.

1065
01:10:55,200 --> 01:10:58,280
I hope that us being completely
transparent and upfront

1066
01:10:58,280 --> 01:11:02,120
about these results boosts public
confidence in vaccines, overall.

1067
01:11:02,120 --> 01:11:06,760
I think what we've achieved
this year has been remarkable,

1068
01:11:06,760 --> 01:11:08,600
we can hold our heads high

1069
01:11:08,600 --> 01:11:13,040
and, you know, I think it's a very
sad time, but also we're very proud

1070
01:11:13,040 --> 01:11:14,880
of what we have achieved.

1071
01:11:19,480 --> 01:11:23,840
Australia's quest for a home-grown
vaccine is tonight over.

1072
01:11:23,840 --> 01:11:27,440
We have led the world in taming
the virus, but in the battle

1073
01:11:27,440 --> 01:11:28,920
to beat it forever,

1074
01:11:28,920 --> 01:11:31,960
today, we were forced
to concede defeat.

1075
01:11:33,960 --> 01:11:37,320
As a scientist, we have a lot
of different jobs.

1076
01:11:37,320 --> 01:11:41,120
We have a job to make a vaccine,
but we also have the job to train

1077
01:11:41,120 --> 01:11:46,680
people, to educate people and to be
able to, I guess, step back

1078
01:11:46,680 --> 01:11:51,120
and say, "Look, we did
all we could.

1079
01:11:51,120 --> 01:11:56,320
"There's these other vaccines that
are also looking great,

1080
01:11:56,320 --> 01:11:58,000
"so take those."

1081
01:11:58,000 --> 01:12:01,400
You know, that's an important
part of our job as well.

1082
01:12:01,400 --> 01:12:07,160
It's not all about making a vaccine
and getting to the finish line.

1083
01:12:10,240 --> 01:12:13,200
In Oxford, Katie was still waiting.

1084
01:12:15,600 --> 01:12:18,440
It's Sunday night, 22nd of November.

1085
01:12:19,480 --> 01:12:23,480
I think we are about to find out
the result.

1086
01:12:23,480 --> 01:12:26,520
You know, two of the other big
vaccine manufacturers have released

1087
01:12:26,520 --> 01:12:29,440
their efficacy results and we've
known that we were very close,

1088
01:12:29,440 --> 01:12:33,800
for some time now.
I'm feeling excited about it.

1089
01:12:33,800 --> 01:12:38,520
But now that I know it's so close,
I'm also feeling very anxious.

1090
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:44,640
NEWS BROADCAST: The vaccine
developed by scientists at Oxford

1091
01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:47,160
is set to transform the battle
against coronavirus

1092
01:12:47,160 --> 01:12:48,720
around the world.

1093
01:12:48,720 --> 01:12:51,200
What we're measuring as
Covid disease...

1094
01:12:51,200 --> 01:12:55,040
Come in. It's all right, we're just
watching the press conference.

1095
01:12:55,040 --> 01:12:58,880
Different trial groups make
the Oxford-AstraZeneca results

1096
01:12:58,880 --> 01:13:01,160
harder to interpret, but the average

1097
01:13:01,160 --> 01:13:06,680
efficacy is 70%. Not as
good as the stellar 95%

1098
01:13:06,680 --> 01:13:08,520
from Pfizer and Moderna,

1099
01:13:08,520 --> 01:13:11,520
but it's another vaccine that works.

1100
01:13:11,520 --> 01:13:13,960
NEWS BROADCAST: This vaccine is
highly effective,

1101
01:13:13,960 --> 01:13:15,520
it prevents people getting sick.

1102
01:13:15,520 --> 01:13:19,240
I feel relieved, a bit emotional.

1103
01:13:21,240 --> 01:13:25,200
I was really worried last night that
we would just get a negative result

1104
01:13:25,200 --> 01:13:28,720
and everything that's happened for
the last, you know, 11 months

1105
01:13:28,720 --> 01:13:30,520
would be, you know, for nothing.

1106
01:13:30,520 --> 01:13:34,160
So...no, it's good. It's good that
we've got a result.

1107
01:13:35,440 --> 01:13:39,160
When we started on the process
of developing vaccines,

1108
01:13:39,160 --> 01:13:41,320
the target was 50%.

1109
01:13:41,320 --> 01:13:44,600
I think if you'd put me in this seat
12 months ago and said,

1110
01:13:44,600 --> 01:13:46,960
"Would you be happy with a vaccine
with 60% efficacy?"

1111
01:13:46,960 --> 01:13:48,720
I'd have been pretty chuffed
with that.

1112
01:13:51,280 --> 01:13:55,960
And within the data for all three
vaccines now over the line,

1113
01:13:55,960 --> 01:13:57,480
more good news.

1114
01:13:59,600 --> 01:14:03,320
These vaccines are stopping severe
disease, they're stopping

1115
01:14:03,320 --> 01:14:07,520
you going into hospital.
If a vaccine stops you from dying,

1116
01:14:07,520 --> 01:14:09,600
it's a vaccine I'd put in my arm.

1117
01:14:09,600 --> 01:14:13,320
We shouldn't keep concentrating
on one vaccine

1118
01:14:13,320 --> 01:14:15,240
being better than another.

1119
01:14:15,240 --> 01:14:18,120
We should be happy that
we have so many vaccines

1120
01:14:18,120 --> 01:14:21,480
because without a large number,
we're never going to be able

1121
01:14:21,480 --> 01:14:22,960
to vaccinate the whole world.

1122
01:14:27,080 --> 01:14:30,560
We've put our backs into this and
assuming that the regulators

1123
01:14:30,560 --> 01:14:33,120
give it the green light and that
the Department of Health

1124
01:14:33,120 --> 01:14:37,400
can deploy it, really then, it's
over to the public to determine

1125
01:14:37,400 --> 01:14:40,280
what impact it has. In order
to get the levels of immunity

1126
01:14:40,280 --> 01:14:41,480
that we're going to need,

1127
01:14:41,480 --> 01:14:43,480
we need lots of people to go
and get vaccinated

1128
01:14:43,480 --> 01:14:46,240
and I think they will and I hope
they will, but that's when

1129
01:14:46,240 --> 01:14:48,480
I'll really feel like we've made
a difference.

1130
01:14:52,000 --> 01:14:53,440
Hello!

1131
01:14:53,440 --> 01:14:56,120
We all want to go back to things
more or less

1132
01:14:56,120 --> 01:14:58,120
how they were before, you know?

1133
01:14:58,120 --> 01:15:00,680
We all just want normality back,
don't we?

1134
01:15:09,680 --> 01:15:13,840
Just nine days later, on
December 2nd, that process began.

1135
01:15:15,720 --> 01:15:19,880
With vaccines packed and ready
to go, the UK became the first

1136
01:15:19,880 --> 01:15:23,520
country in the world to approve
Pfizer's vaccine for use

1137
01:15:23,520 --> 01:15:25,320
outside a clinical trial.

1138
01:15:26,840 --> 01:15:30,800
The race for a vaccine was now
the race for vaccination.

1139
01:15:32,880 --> 01:15:37,160
90-year-old Margaret Keenan, well,
she'll go down in history.

1140
01:15:37,160 --> 01:15:40,320
She's become the first person
in the world to receive the Pfizer

1141
01:15:40,320 --> 01:15:42,200
vaccine against Covid-19.

1142
01:15:42,200 --> 01:15:44,160
ALL CHEER

1143
01:15:47,360 --> 01:15:52,040
And in the United States, just two
days after the UK's V Day,

1144
01:15:52,040 --> 01:15:56,520
the FDA also issued Pfizer
an emergency use licence.

1145
01:15:59,960 --> 01:16:01,680
My dad worked for NASA.

1146
01:16:01,680 --> 01:16:05,600
He was actually invited to Mission
Control in Houston when the first

1147
01:16:05,600 --> 01:16:08,000
humans stepped foot on the moon.

1148
01:16:08,000 --> 01:16:11,080
I thought, I wonder if I'll ever
experience that in my life,

1149
01:16:11,080 --> 01:16:15,320
that enormous upswelling
of emotion and pride.

1150
01:16:15,320 --> 01:16:20,360
When I saw the truck being loaded,
I was absolutely blown away.

1151
01:16:22,800 --> 01:16:26,880
So many people just cried with joy
when our trucks moved away

1152
01:16:26,880 --> 01:16:28,160
from our factories.

1153
01:16:30,280 --> 01:16:33,800
In less than 24 hours, the first
American will be given a dose

1154
01:16:33,800 --> 01:16:37,000
of Pfizer and BioNTech's
coronavirus vaccine.

1155
01:16:37,000 --> 01:16:39,040
DONALD TRUMP: They said
it couldn't be done,

1156
01:16:39,040 --> 01:16:43,280
but with today's announcement,
we have now achieved that goal.

1157
01:16:43,280 --> 01:16:47,680
There is now hope that these grim
days may well come to an end.

1158
01:16:50,680 --> 01:16:54,560
Following Pfizer,
on January 4th 2021,

1159
01:16:54,560 --> 01:16:57,360
Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine
was also

1160
01:16:57,360 --> 01:16:59,200
authorised in the UK.

1161
01:16:59,200 --> 01:17:02,240
TV: Vaccines bring hope
but the roll-out

1162
01:17:02,240 --> 01:17:05,000
must happen quickly if they're to
compete with the virus.

1163
01:17:05,000 --> 01:17:09,920
But that very same day, the country
entered its third national lockdown.

1164
01:17:09,920 --> 01:17:13,320
So some good news
with the AstraZeneca vaccine,

1165
01:17:13,320 --> 01:17:16,920
but all the figures are going
in completely the wrong way.

1166
01:17:16,920 --> 01:17:22,320
Bit of a weird day. Obviously really
happy to see the vaccine rolled out,

1167
01:17:22,320 --> 01:17:27,360
but really, really gutted that after
the two lockdowns we've already had,

1168
01:17:27,360 --> 01:17:30,520
all the sacrifices that people
have made - not seeing family,

1169
01:17:30,520 --> 01:17:34,000
not seeing friends, all the
opportunities that have been missed,

1170
01:17:34,000 --> 01:17:37,400
the schooling that's been missed,
not seeing everyone over Christmas -

1171
01:17:37,400 --> 01:17:39,800
and, you know, this is where
we are, back again now,

1172
01:17:39,800 --> 01:17:41,560
it's just really gutting.

1173
01:17:47,520 --> 01:17:51,320
On the first anniversary of
George Gao publishing the sequence

1174
01:17:51,320 --> 01:17:54,640
of the novel coronavirus,
it was killing people

1175
01:17:54,640 --> 01:17:56,320
faster than ever.

1176
01:17:56,320 --> 01:17:58,080
WOMEN WAIL AND WEEP

1177
01:18:00,600 --> 01:18:04,680
The evidence suggests the vaccines
work very well,

1178
01:18:04,680 --> 01:18:09,080
but when they don't get out fast
enough, countries risk losing

1179
01:18:09,080 --> 01:18:11,880
control to deadly new waves
of infection.

1180
01:18:15,960 --> 01:18:19,880
And this presents a huge opportunity
for the virus.

1181
01:18:21,640 --> 01:18:23,720
By allowing it to get

1182
01:18:23,720 --> 01:18:28,560
to hundreds of millions
of infected people,

1183
01:18:28,560 --> 01:18:32,240
the virus is going to find
ways to evolve.

1184
01:18:32,240 --> 01:18:36,000
Every single person that's
infected gives the virus

1185
01:18:36,000 --> 01:18:38,400
a new opportunity to mutate.

1186
01:18:38,400 --> 01:18:42,880
So we're fighting against an enemy
that is constantly changing

1187
01:18:42,880 --> 01:18:44,400
and moving.

1188
01:18:45,520 --> 01:18:50,720
In the UK, Brazil, India,
and here in South Africa -

1189
01:18:50,720 --> 01:18:56,000
all experiencing soaring
infection rates in early 2021 -

1190
01:18:56,000 --> 01:19:01,080
the virus has mutated into so-called
"variants of concern".

1191
01:19:02,280 --> 01:19:06,560
The variant of the virus identified
in South Africa, for example,

1192
01:19:06,560 --> 01:19:10,600
is found to have mutations
in the spike protein that subtly

1193
01:19:10,600 --> 01:19:11,800
change its shape.

1194
01:19:13,840 --> 01:19:17,400
Antibodies that neutralise
the original strain of the virus

1195
01:19:17,400 --> 01:19:21,400
from Wuhan, that all vaccines
so far are based on,

1196
01:19:21,400 --> 01:19:23,720
now don't seem to bind so well.

1197
01:19:25,960 --> 01:19:30,520
As long as the variants are allowed
to expand and they become a concern

1198
01:19:30,520 --> 01:19:33,560
unchecked, then it just makes
the job of the vaccine

1199
01:19:33,560 --> 01:19:36,000
so much more difficult, and I feel
at the moment,

1200
01:19:36,000 --> 01:19:37,840
we're in a really dangerous position

1201
01:19:37,840 --> 01:19:41,120
between relaxing too much
because we know we've got

1202
01:19:41,120 --> 01:19:45,320
the vaccines, but relaxing
so much that actually we undo

1203
01:19:45,320 --> 01:19:48,480
all the good work we've done
and we see a massive expansion

1204
01:19:48,480 --> 01:19:52,880
of mutant viruses that then render
all of the vaccines ineffective.

1205
01:19:52,880 --> 01:19:54,920
I'm actually very concerned
about this.

1206
01:19:54,920 --> 01:19:56,200
I'm worried about that

1207
01:19:56,200 --> 01:20:02,400
people get to too joyful and think
that everything is OK now.

1208
01:20:02,400 --> 01:20:04,400
It is not yet OK.

1209
01:20:04,400 --> 01:20:09,560
If you're not careful and the virus
is finding a way to escape immune

1210
01:20:09,560 --> 01:20:13,920
protection, we could as well
start all over again.

1211
01:20:13,920 --> 01:20:19,240
And in South Africa, start
over again is what happened.

1212
01:20:20,680 --> 01:20:23,960
South Africa has announced
it temporarily is stopping

1213
01:20:23,960 --> 01:20:27,280
the roll-out of the
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

1214
01:20:27,280 --> 01:20:30,680
This is after a study found
that the vaccine was largely

1215
01:20:30,680 --> 01:20:35,600
ineffective against the new Covid-19
variant that was first identified

1216
01:20:35,600 --> 01:20:36,720
in South Africa.

1217
01:20:37,800 --> 01:20:42,760
Despite having a million doses
of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine,

1218
01:20:42,760 --> 01:20:46,280
in February, South Africa
made a drastic decision.

1219
01:20:47,840 --> 01:20:52,560
It quickly obtained limited stocks
of another viral vector vaccine,

1220
01:20:52,560 --> 01:20:56,080
made by Johnson & Johnson,
which it hoped might work better

1221
01:20:56,080 --> 01:20:57,840
against the new variant.

1222
01:20:59,520 --> 01:21:03,200
One of the first recipients
was the South African President.

1223
01:21:07,080 --> 01:21:11,640
Goodbye. How's the arm? The arm
is still OK. Still OK.

1224
01:21:13,280 --> 01:21:17,960
Around the world, governments
and scientists had to grapple

1225
01:21:17,960 --> 01:21:20,000
with the changing situation.

1226
01:21:43,400 --> 01:21:48,680
By March, tens of millions of people
had received Chinese vaccines

1227
01:21:48,680 --> 01:21:54,920
in more than 25 countries, from
China to Hungary, Indonesia to
Zimbabwe,

1228
01:21:54,920 --> 01:21:58,840
even though phase-three trials
were not yet finished, and the early

1229
01:21:58,840 --> 01:22:01,640
data on these vaccines
was incomplete.

1230
01:22:31,400 --> 01:22:36,120
The WHO later approved the Sinopharm
and Sinovac vaccines,

1231
01:22:36,120 --> 01:22:39,560
and China's unorthodox policy
of speeding through roll-out

1232
01:22:39,560 --> 01:22:43,840
before trial results were finalised,
seems to have been vindicated.

1233
01:22:46,120 --> 01:22:48,560
For all vaccine scientists,

1234
01:22:48,560 --> 01:22:52,200
it's about weighing the benefits
against the risks.

1235
01:22:53,520 --> 01:22:59,280
If you can intervene with, let's
say, a 40%-effective vaccine four

1236
01:22:59,280 --> 01:23:03,200
months before you can intervene
with an 80%-effective vaccine,

1237
01:23:03,200 --> 01:23:07,640
you save more lives with the
40%-effective vaccine

1238
01:23:07,640 --> 01:23:09,880
that's delivered four months
earlier.

1239
01:23:09,880 --> 01:23:14,840
And so being fast in an outbreak
setting in some ways

1240
01:23:14,840 --> 01:23:17,840
is more important
than being perfect.

1241
01:23:17,840 --> 01:23:23,720
Difficult decisions must be made
everywhere. As in March and April,

1242
01:23:23,720 --> 01:23:27,360
when evidence mounted of extremely
rare side-effects connected

1243
01:23:27,360 --> 01:23:31,600
to at least two of the
viral vector vaccines.

1244
01:23:31,600 --> 01:23:35,320
NEWS: There is a possible link
between the AstraZeneca vaccine

1245
01:23:35,320 --> 01:23:37,680
and very rare blood clots.

1246
01:23:37,680 --> 01:23:42,440
A small number of cases of serious
blood clots in recipients led to use

1247
01:23:42,440 --> 01:23:46,720
of the Oxford-AstraZeneca
and Johnson & Johnson vaccines

1248
01:23:46,720 --> 01:23:49,440
being halted or partially
restricted

1249
01:23:49,440 --> 01:23:51,720
in several countries.

1250
01:23:51,720 --> 01:23:54,000
19 people have died.

1251
01:23:54,000 --> 01:23:57,600
That's out of 20 million
who received the jab.

1252
01:23:57,600 --> 01:24:02,160
That's one rare clot in every
250,000 vaccinations.

1253
01:24:02,160 --> 01:24:07,040
For the vast majority of people,
the risk of these clots

1254
01:24:07,040 --> 01:24:10,120
is far smaller than the risk
from the virus.

1255
01:24:17,920 --> 01:24:21,800
For the world's vaccine scientists,
the race against the virus

1256
01:24:21,800 --> 01:24:23,080
is far from over.

1257
01:24:25,400 --> 01:24:30,400
It's not as if we got the efficacy
results and we've stopped working.

1258
01:24:30,400 --> 01:24:32,480
If anything, the work keeps going.

1259
01:24:32,480 --> 01:24:35,040
We're constantly looking
at the new variants,

1260
01:24:35,040 --> 01:24:38,800
we're constantly measuring,
assessing to see if we need

1261
01:24:38,800 --> 01:24:42,760
new vaccines, to see if we need
new booster shots, to see

1262
01:24:42,760 --> 01:24:45,400
how long our immune response lasts.

1263
01:24:45,400 --> 01:24:48,200
Hey, guys. Has it come through yet?

1264
01:24:50,440 --> 01:24:52,880
Yeah, so that looks
like a very good start.

1265
01:24:52,880 --> 01:24:56,120
Keith and his team are back
at the bench, now targeting

1266
01:24:56,120 --> 01:24:59,760
the variants with an updated version
of their protein vaccine,

1267
01:24:59,760 --> 01:25:03,200
this time with no HIV protein
at all.

1268
01:25:03,200 --> 01:25:06,760
So, expression this week,
purification next week. Yes.

1269
01:25:06,760 --> 01:25:10,080
We'll give it another shot.

1270
01:25:10,080 --> 01:25:14,800
And if new vaccines are required,
the pioneers of mRNA

1271
01:25:14,800 --> 01:25:17,040
believe their triumph
can be repeated.

1272
01:25:57,040 --> 01:26:00,720
The Covid-19 pandemic has exacted

1273
01:26:00,720 --> 01:26:03,160
and is still exacting

1274
01:26:03,160 --> 01:26:05,400
an unbearable human cost.

1275
01:26:07,000 --> 01:26:11,200
But thanks to the efforts
of a small number of scientists,

1276
01:26:11,200 --> 01:26:14,320
we are now being protected
against an even worse fate.

1277
01:26:16,360 --> 01:26:21,840
What's more, the way we do
science is changed forever.

1278
01:26:21,840 --> 01:26:26,320
It's been a massive global
collaborative effort whereby

1279
01:26:26,320 --> 01:26:30,000
everyone is invested in
everyone else's success

1280
01:26:30,000 --> 01:26:31,400
from a vaccine perspective.

1281
01:26:31,400 --> 01:26:35,840
And so the sharing of knowledge in
almost real time is unprecedented

1282
01:26:35,840 --> 01:26:37,040
in this moment.

1283
01:26:37,040 --> 01:26:40,880
We have transformed the way
that vaccines are made, the way

1284
01:26:40,880 --> 01:26:44,160
that they're looked at and
the impact the public

1285
01:26:44,160 --> 01:26:46,440
sees they make.

1286
01:26:46,440 --> 01:26:50,920
This is not really like anyone's
life in science, I think, before.

1287
01:26:50,920 --> 01:26:53,440
You know, we've changed everything
in the last

1288
01:26:53,440 --> 01:26:56,360
12 months in terms of,
not just what we've done,

1289
01:26:56,360 --> 01:26:59,400
but what we've now shown is
possible.

1290
01:26:59,400 --> 01:27:03,240
To go from a standing start with an
unknown pathogen,

1291
01:27:03,240 --> 01:27:06,520
roll it out, you know, with phase
one, phase two, phase-three trials,

1292
01:27:06,520 --> 01:27:10,400
emergency use approval,
is an amazing achievement.

1293
01:27:12,000 --> 01:27:16,000
Hundreds of thousands of lives
have already been saved.

1294
01:27:17,680 --> 01:27:21,560
As roll-out continues around
the world, that number will become

1295
01:27:21,560 --> 01:27:23,600
tens of millions.

1296
01:27:25,960 --> 01:27:30,360
It's hoped that in time everyone
will get their invitation

1297
01:27:30,360 --> 01:27:32,360
to the vaccination clinic.

1298
01:27:32,360 --> 01:27:36,480
CHEERING
Viva soy!

1299
01:27:37,680 --> 01:27:41,080
When Kizzy and Barney got
their call, it was to get

1300
01:27:41,080 --> 01:27:42,080
their own shot.

1301
01:27:44,640 --> 01:27:47,800
BEEP
You're Barney Graham.

1302
01:27:47,800 --> 01:27:51,040
Yes, I am. Any questions
regarding the vaccine?

1303
01:27:51,040 --> 01:27:53,880
No, I'm ready to go. All right.

1304
01:27:53,880 --> 01:27:57,400
How was that? Beautiful.

1305
01:27:59,320 --> 01:28:01,360
If you want to head to the
observation area,

1306
01:28:01,360 --> 01:28:03,240
we'll keep an eye on you
for 15 minutes.

1307
01:28:03,240 --> 01:28:07,480
Sometimes I just like to go
over to the cafeteria

1308
01:28:07,480 --> 01:28:09,240
on the NIH campus, where a lot

1309
01:28:09,240 --> 01:28:13,800
of these vaccinations are done,
and just sit there and watch

1310
01:28:13,800 --> 01:28:15,040
people be vaccinated.

1311
01:28:15,040 --> 01:28:18,800
It's, it's, it is really thrilling
because it is such a relief

1312
01:28:18,800 --> 01:28:20,920
to a lot of people.

1313
01:28:20,920 --> 01:28:23,800
It is amazing to know that
you contributed to that.

1314
01:28:29,480 --> 01:28:31,240
SHE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE