Produced by Wingspan Productions and US-based GHRC in association with HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, the Horizon special follows the unprecedented global quest to develop, trial, manufacture, and distribute effective vaccines to fight the global Covid-19 pandemic. Vaccine: The Inside Story (w/t) is rooted in extraordinary access during 2020 to the leading vaccine research teams around the world, including scientists behind the Pfizer/BioNTech, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/Moderna, and the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccines in development.

When news of the novel coronavirus pandemic broke, a small group of elite scientists around the globe launched into action to take on perhaps the biggest challenge in the history of modern medicine. The scope and speed of this effort has been unprecedented: producing multiple vaccines using different novel technologies, to defeat a virus never seen before in humans.

The film tracks key individuals from vaccine teams in the US, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, following scientists, clinicians, and manufacturing experts through the struggles and triumphs of their work, from recruiting trial subjects and inventing new supply chains, to facing down pressures to speed up science and potentially sacrifice safety. The film also explores the contributions of the vaccine trial volunteers who have put their bodies on the line to make this medical progress possible.

Jack Bootle, BBC Head of Commissioning, Science and Natural History says: “It is an incredible privilege to be able to bring BBC Two viewers the inside story of the biggest scientific breakthrough of the 21st century; a moment in medical history that we will remember forever. With extraordinary access to the amazing women and men inside the world’s leading laboratories, Wingspan and their partners are making a film that everyone will need to see.”

The film will be produced and directed by award-winning British filmmaker and former virologist Catherine Gale. She says: “How pandemics end depends so much on how they begin, so I wanted to tell the story of the scientists who were ready and waiting for Covid-19. The story of their race against time to develop vaccines, and the lessons we take from it, will shape the future for us all, so it’s never been more important that we dive into their world. I’ve been truly inspired by them.”

Vaccine: The Inside Story (w/t), was commissioned for BBC Two by Patrick Holland, Controller BBC Two and Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Science and Natural History and the BBC Commissioning Editor is Tom Coveney. It is a joint commission with CNN Films (under the title Race for the Vaccine) and is being made by Wingspan Productions and GHRC (Global Health Reporting Center) in association with HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. The film will be produced and directed by Dr. Catherine Gale (The Joy of Winning), and co-directed by award-winning American medical journalist and independent filmmaker Caleb Hellerman. Executive producers are Janet Tobias (Unseen Enemy) and Rogger Lopez (Memory Games) of Global Health Reporting Center (GHRC); Archie Baron (Dancing on Thin Ice with Torvill & Dean) of Wingspan Productions; Amy Entelis, Katie Hinman, and Courtney Sexton of CNN Films; Sean B. Carroll and Jared Lipworth of Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Tangled Bank Studios. The film has also been supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.