The team that engineered the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covidvaccine has been named winners of the Heroes of the Year award at GQ’s 24th annual Men of the Year awards.
Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, Dr Catherine Green and the team behind the jab that “offered hope to every corner of the globe” will be awarded the title during the ceremony on Wednesday night.
It marks the first time GQ has had an award titled “Heroes of the Year” and the first time an award is going to a group. The magazine has previously honoured individual women in its awards, including Michaela Coel for Creative Icon and Lashana Lynch for Hugo Boss Breakthrough Actress in 2020.
The vaccine team raced to develop a “world-changing response to Covid-19” and announced their life-saving vaccine in November 2020.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine became available on a non-profit basis in perpetuity to low- and middle-income countries, and is part of Covax, the global initiative to distribute two billion doses to the developing world at cost price.
The vaccine is now the most-used vaccine in the world and the most widely accepted for global travel, with 119 governments recognising it.
In an interview with GQ, Dr Green said the details of the deal with AstraZeneca to make the jab available to the developing world at cost was something neither she nor Prof Gilbert had “anything to do with”, but added: “As a university and as a charity, we were always working for public health and public good and not for profit.
“The university was never going to just sell it to the highest bidder and make the most money.”
The duo also spoke about their unexpected fame, the potential for more pandemics to emerge in the coming years, and whether or not booster vaccine doses will be necessary.
The GQ award is the latest in a slew of recognitions achieved by Prof Gilbert, Dr Green and other members of Oxford Vaccine Group in the past year for their work on Covid-19.
The team was recognised for their excellence at the NHS Parliamentary awards in July, and director Andrew Pollard was honoured as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List this year.
Mattel created a Barbie doll in Prof Gilbert’s honour, which she said was initially “very strange” but she hoped it would inspire young girls to work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers.
The GQ Men of the Year awards will take place in central London and will be jointly hosted by husband and wife Idris and Sabrina Elba. Last year, the awards took place online due to coronavirus restrictions.
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