Videos: Life-saving Vaccines

Andrew Pollard, Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity at the Department of Paediatrics and Oxford BRC Co-Theme Lead for Vaccines speaks about the development of a vaccine candidate for COVID-19 and the progress of its clinical trials.

Researchers from Oxford University's Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group have begun testing a potential new vaccine for COVID-19 in healthy volunteers. For more information on this stage of the trial: https://covid19vaccinetrial.co.uk/phase-i-trial-explained

On 21 November 2019, the NIHR oxford Biomedical Research Centre hosted a free public talk at the John Radcliffe hospital: ‘Ten years to eliminate Hepatitis B: can it be done?’ by Dr Philippa Matthews of the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine and the Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research. Hepatitis B is estimated to infect almost 300 million people globally, and one third of the world’s population has been exposed to the virus. International sustainable development goals have set ambitious targets for the elimination of viral hepatitis as a public health threat by the year 2030. With a safe, effective vaccine and widely available antiviral drugs that can suppress the infection, is this goal within reach? Using data from Africa, Dr Matthews explored the impact of HBV infection and its current treatments, and suggested the steps that could help us move towards its elimination.

To understand how vaccines work, it helps to look first at how the immune system works. This short animation explains how vaccines enable the body to make the right sort of antibodies to fight a particular disease. Thanks to Salem Almujri at King Khalid University for the Arabic translation.

Vaccines have been science’s most efficient way of preventing diseases. Our theme will investigate a better vaccine for group B meningitis, and help develop new vaccines for Zika, pandemic influenza, tuberculosis, and prostate cancer. We will improve the effectiveness of a malaria vaccine we been trialling and try simplifying the UK’s childhood immunisation programme so children would need fewer doses.

Peter Piot outlines the history of Ebola and the medical research underpinning the virus's discovery, the nature of the 2014-15 epidemic and the reasons for the virus's rapid spread during this time. The talk concludes with an outline of the ways in which future ebola outbreaks can be successfully controlled including the possible development of an effective vaccine.

Footage from a free public engagement day in Oxford on Vaccines and Infectious Disease, held at Oxford University Museum of Natural History, 6th March 2015. The event was organised by Dr Lynda Coughlan, Public Engagement Representative at the Jenner Institute, and was run in partnership with The British Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (BSGCT), The British Society for Immunology (BSI), Oxford NIHR BRC and Oxfordshire Science Festival 2015. Over 250 people pre-registered to attend the event, including GCSE/A-level schools groups as well as members of the public and patient groups. The interactive day involved talks from science experts, hands-on activities, exhibitors, a panel discussion and special appearance by guest speaker Prof Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus. This film was produced by Oxford Medical Illustration part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. Find out more about OMI here: http://oxfordmi.nhs.uk/OMI

Professor Andrew J Pollard, Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity at Oxford University, looks at common childhood diseases and how effective the vaccination programme has been in developed countries, then looks at the picture in less developed nations. He also looks at new research into vaccines for different types of meningitis and influenza.

Professor Andrew J. Pollard talks about vaccinology in Oxford and the study on H1N1 swine flu

Professor Paul Klenerman presents his research findings on viral infections such as HIV and hepatitis C, and how vaccines against these and other micro-organisms are being developed.

Find out how a multidisciplinary team of scientists came to create England's new way to identify how to fight and track TB outbreaks using DNA analysis. http://modmedmicro.nsms.ox.ac.uk

Dr Matthew Snape, Jenner Institute Investigator and Oxford BRC Consultant in General Paediatrics and Vaccinology, Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, talks about ‘Meningitis Vaccines – can we do more?’