England and Germany ‘neck-and-neck’ in coronavirus vaccine race

Teams at Oxford University and BioNTech are competing to produce the first internationally accepted vaccination for Covid-19

An Argentinian lab produces the Oxford coronavirus vaccine for clinical trials in the country
Worker in Argentinian lab producing the Oxford coronavirus vaccine for clinical trials in the country
(Image credit: Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty)

The life-and-death sprint to find a drug that can protect us all from Covid-19 is a contest in which there ought to be no losers.

Yet the unprecedented efforts of the world’s scientists and drug companies to create a coronavirus vaccine have culminated in a familiar rivalry, says The Telegraph - “a playoff between teams in England and Germany”.

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Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.