Georgina Ferry interviews Adam Ritchie, Senior Vaccine Programme Manager, 31 October 2022.
Topics discussed include (00:00:42) early interest in science, schooling in Australia, interest in palaeontology and evolution of viruses, University in Sydney and PhD, postdoctoral work at Oxford; (00:05:10) work at the John Radcliffe Hospital during postdoctoral work relating to projects on mad cow disease, malaria diagnostics, etc. and teaching of genetics and evolution on the human science programme, public policy teaching at the Blavatnik School; (00:09:25) work at the Jenner Institute with Sandy Douglas on rabies vaccines; (00:16:03) specifics of current role, work of Sandy Douglas and Carina Joe; (00:22:10) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:29:05) focus of the team, particularly relating to the large-scale vaccine manufacturing process; (00:34:30) meeting with Iona Tarbet in February 2020, collaboration with Pall facility and the physical transfer of cells to Portsmouth; (00:39:50) funding for the programme, award from the Nuffield Department of Medicine and discussions with government; (00:42:40) meeting at the Blavatnik School of Government in early March 2020; (00:43:55) the work of Sandy and Carina on the programme and the importance of their roles; (00:47:10) clinical trials, collaboration with Advent to manufacture thousands of doses; (00:50:10) doses of vaccine manufactured by Pall; (00:53:30) involvement of AstraZeneca; (00:56:15) reaction to the clinical trial results; (00:58:30) personal involvement in media and publicity; (01:03:06) subsequent work, including on rabies and Ebola, also work on intranasal vaccine, and BiPAD; (01:08:45) wider recognition of personal contribution; (01:13:10) collaboration with partners in industry, including work with Jon Humphreys of the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre; (01:15:40) impact of the pandemic on work and personal life; (01:19:30) PTSD reaction within the team to Ebola work; (01:21:56) support for wellbeing and mental health; (01:23:45) potential for Ebola pandemic or global transmission; (01:27:30) concerns for the future and lessons learnt from the pandemic; (01:31:07) changes in approach or attitude to work.
