The Great Vaccinator

In this episode, first aired in 2014, we examine three very different kinds of black boxes—spaces where we know what’s going in, we know what’s coming out, but can’t see what happens in-between. From the darkest parts of metamorphosis to a sixty-year-old secret among magicians, a ...  Show more

Before he was even born, Sarah and Ross Gray knew that their son Thomas wouldn’t live long. But as they let go of him, they made a decision that reverberated through a world that they never bothered to think about. Years later, after a couple of awkward phone calls, they go on a ...  Show more

Now that scientists have created a Covid-19 vaccine in record time, the race is on to vaccinate the world. Public health professor Devi Sridhar follows the journey of the Covid vaccine from factory to arm as she goes behind the scenes of the rollout. Speaking to health leaders, p ...  Show more

This past year, scientists racing to stop the novel coronavirus delivered vaccines at a pace and scale the world has never seen before. Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University's vaccine research institute, recounts how he and his team developed the AstraZeneca vaccine. He expl ...  Show more

The race for a COVID-19 vaccine entered a new phase recently. Four different vaccine candidates, developed by Moderna, Pfizer, BionTech and Johnson & Johnson, entered final-stage trials, with two others close behind. But we won’t know exactly how these four vaccines work for mont ...  Show more

On the same day the COVID-19 death toll surpassed 300,000 in the United States, the first vaccines are being administered, finally giving millions of Americans hope for a better future and a return to normalcy. We explore how officials expect to deliver a safe and effective vacci ...  Show more