It’s Professor Barbie! Doll maker honours Covid jab pioneer as true role model
A BRITISH Covid heroine who helped make her country’s vaccine programme a success has been turned into a Barbie doll to acknowledge her efforts.
Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, 59 – a key member of the team behind the OxfordAstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine – hopes the doll made in her likeness will encourage more women to become scientists.
The vaccinologist, co-founder of firm Vaccitech and Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, took just two weeks to co-develop the vaccine last December.
She is one of six inspirational women who have been given plastic doubles, which are not for sale, as part of The Barbie Role Models programme in tribute to their contributions.
The other figures are Amy O’Sullivan, 18, a US nurse who
treated the first Covid-19 patient at the Wyckoff Hospital in New York and became ill herself; American frontline worker and campaigner Dr Audrey Cruz, 31; Canadian physician and racism activist, Dr Chika Stacy Oriuwa, 27; biomedical researcher Dr Jaqueline Goes de Jesus, 31, who led the sequencing of the genome of a variant in Brazil; and Australian general practitioner Dr Kirby White, 35.
Barbie, owned by toy giant Mattel, is donating to Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), Prof Gilbert’s chosen organisation, in support of their My Skills My Life outreach resource, which is aimed at girls aged 11 to 19.
Dame Sarah said: “I am passionate about inspiring the next generation of girls into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers and hope that children who see my Barbie will realise how vital careers in science are to help the world around us.
“My wish is that my doll will show children careers they may not be aware of, such as a vaccinologist.”
WISE analysis shows that women fill just 24 per cent of core STEM roles in the UK.
Lisa McKnight, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Barbie & Dolls, said: “Barbie recognises that all frontline workers have made tremendous sacrifices when confronting the pandemic and the challenges it heightened.”
More than 85 million Covid jabs have now been administered across the UK.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “From our NHS administering the jabs, to the armed forces, thousands of volunteers and civil servants, you have all played an important role in getting us to this life-saving milestone.”