Covid Barbie fights the pandemic
Just in time for Women’s Day, Barbie finally has a job — and it’s making a jab that will help save the world. Toymaker Mattel has designed a likeness of one of the scientists that helped create the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, in the hope of inspiring girls to get into science, technology, engineering or maths careers.
According to Sky News, professor Sarah Gilbert has been honoured as a “Barbie Role Model” for her work at the University of Oxford and for her position as project leader in the creation of one of the Covid19 vaccines.
“My wish is that my doll will show children the careers they may not be aware of, like a vaccinologist,” said Gilbert.
“It’s a strange concept having a Barbie made in my likeness,” she said in an interview for Mattel.
Mattel is also honouring five other women who’ve made a big impact on the world during the pandemic. They are:
● Emergency room nurse Amy O’Sullivan, who treated the first Covid-19 patient at the Wycoff Hospital in Brooklyn, New York;
● Dr Audrey Cruz, a frontline worker from Las Vegas who joined forces with other Asian-American physicians to fight racial bias and discrimination;
● Dr Chika Stacy Oriuwa, a psychiatry resident at the University of Toronto, Canada, who advocated against systemic racism in health care;
● Biomedical researcher Dr Jacqueline Goes de Jesus, credited with leading the sequencing of the genome of a Covid-19 variant in Brazil; and
● Dr Kirby Whitby, who co-founded “Gowns for Doctors”, a gown that can be laundered and re-used.