Episode 45: Vaccines Pt.1

It&aposs virus versus vaccines... but which countries are leading the fight? If vaccine nationalism can be overcome, what other obstacles are there in the vaccine supply chain? How concerned should we be about new variants? 

To discuss vaccine nationalism and the risk it could pose to global progress, we speak to  Siddhartha Datta, regional adviser for Europe at the World Health Organization (WHO) [00:51].

We’re also joined by Chen Jian, former adjunct professor of finance at Johns Hopkins University. He explains his work in the medical sector and creating a model for COVID-19 forecasting [05:22]. 

Israel&aposs health ministry is now offering coronavirus vaccines to anyone aged above 16, as the country continues to impress the world with its rapid vaccination campaign. To learn more about this, we speak to Nathan Jeffay, health correspondent for The Times of Israel, who says the country&aposs health system has been a major factor in the pace of its roll-out. [11:20].

And a warning that millions of doses could be spoiled during transportation has heated up the cold chain conversation. The WHO fears vaccine vulnerability in terms of temperature requirements could mean up to 50 percent of vaccines being ruined during transport. 

Thermal stability researcher Asel Sartbaeva from the University of Bath discusses the problem this poses to the global inoculation effort and explains why her team believes silica could be the answer [16:03].