eason 1 of The Road to a Vaccine is an eight-episode educational video series that examines the latest efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and breaks down the complex process of developing a coronavirus vaccine.
Host Lisa Ling talks to leading scientists and researchers, healthcare workers on the front lines and public health experts around the world who are working collaboratively to bring an end to the deadly pandemic.
Episode 2 Recap:
Ling interviews Dan Barouch, M.D., Ph.D.—the director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center—about how his team, in collaboration with other scientists like the ones at Johnson & Johnson, identified a candidate to study for the novel coronavirus vaccine in January. Dr. Barouch explains in detail what coronaviruses are, how a novel coronavirus vaccine might work and how it might be manufactured at a large scale.
He also takes viewer questionslive, including those about antibody tests and how they work as well as about potential treatments.
In the first installment of a recurring episode segment called "Vaccines 101," Hanneke Schuitemaker, Ph.D., joins Ling live from her lab in the Netherlands. Dr. Schuitemaker, Global Head of Viral Vaccine Discovery and Translational Medicine and the Disease Area Stronghold Leader for Viral Vaccines at Janssen Vaccines and Prevention, has spent her career decoding an HIV vaccine and has now turned her sights to COVID-19. She explains scientists' different roles once a vaccine candidate has been identified, goes into detail about how Janssen's vaccine will work and reveals how soon clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine will start.
She then answers viewer questions about whether a vaccine could confer herd immunity in communities and when a coronavirus vaccine might come to market.
Dan Carucci, M.D., Ph.D., Global Medical Director of McCann Health, also joins Ling live to discuss how to convince a wary public about the importance of vaccines, based on his experiences developing and combating resistance to them around the globe. Dr. Carucci goes on to explain why vaccine acceptance is so crucial in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and why, in fact, he believes the pandemic may bring a new appreciation for vaccinations.
He also answers viewer questions including "How does modern computing power affect vaccine development?"
Finally, Ling introduces a short video featuring frontline healthcare workers explaining what the support for their profession around the world has meant to them.
Season 1
Episode 2
How a COVID-19 Vaccine Might Work. Plus, How Quickly We Could Get There
Ling is the Executive Producer and host of This Is Life on CNN. She has also been a field correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show and a contributor to ABC News' Nightline.
Dr. Barouch is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he focuses on studying the immunology and virology of HIV-1 infection and developing novel vaccine strategies.
Dr. Carucci is the McCann Health’s Global Medical Director. During his over 30-year career in global public health, he played a major role in the completion of the malaria genome and proteome, headed up the Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative, and was a member of the board of directors on the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria.
Schuitemaker is the Global Head of Viral Vaccine Discovery and Translational Medicine and the Disease Area Stronghold Leader for Viral Vaccines at Janssen Vaccines and Prevention. In addition to overseeing Janssen’s portfolio of viral vaccine programs, Schuitemaker is also a professor of virology at the Amsterdam University Medical Center.
Roland Zahn, Ph.D., a Janssen scientist and expert in viral vaccines, was at the front lines of research during the Ebola outbreak. Today he and his team are working at record speed to help deliver a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
