Peaks and Pandemics: Andrew Pollard and Charles Clarke
Tonight Dr Charles Clarke - Kishtwar '65, Kanjiroba '69, Everest SW Face '75 & NE Ridge '82 - introduces Andrew Pollard, Professor of Paediatric Infection & Immunity at Oxford, whom he met as a medical student at St Bartholomew's Hospital in the 1980s.
Andy went on to climb on Jaonli in '88, Chamlang in '91 and Everest in '94, doing high altitude medical research, while developing interests in childhood infections and their prevention. Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford for 20 years, Andy has worked on vaccines in Nepal and Bangladesh. He led the not-for-profit Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine trials in the UK, Brazil and South Africa. This vaccine is now used here and is being distributed widely by COVAX, for global equitable access in millions of doses. Andy will describe how the Oxford vaccine was developed, and with luck indicate how we'll be able to return to the mountains this summer.
As usual the evening will finish with a Q&A.