Toy company Mattel Inc pays tribute to the inventor of the Covid-19 vaccine.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, OXFORD — Profesor Sarah Gilbert played an important role in developing one of the world’s leading Covid-19 vaccines. Now, his figure is immortalized as one of the world’s leading toy makers.
Toy company Mattel Inc announced it created a Barbie doll in honor of Gilbert, who led the project for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine as a Barbie Role Model, Wednesday (4/8). The doll has long, blonde hair and black-rimmed glasses, in a dark blue suit. Gilbert found it very strange to have a Barbie that looked like him. However, she hopes her “dolls” will help inspire young girls to study science and math.
“My wish is that my doll will show kids a career they may not even be aware of, like a vaccine expert,” Gilbert said. CBS News, Wednesday (4/8).
Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford who has been honored with Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday Honors, has worked for decades developing vaccines against emerging viral pathogens. Gilbert’s team, one of which developed the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine to fight the corona virus.
Mattel Inc also created Barbie from five other women working in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. The five who have earned the nickname “modern life pandemic heroes” are Amy O’Sullivan (the US emergency room nurse who treated the first Covid-19 patient at Wycoff Hospital in Brooklyn, New York); Dr. Audrey Cruz (US frontline worker fighting racial discrimination alongside other Asian-American health care workers); Dr Chika Stacy Oriuwa (Canadian psychiatry resident who has fought systemic racism in healthcare); dr Jaqueline Goes de Jesus (Brazilian biomedical researcher leading the genome sequencing of the Covid-19 variant in Brazil); and Dr Kirby White who developed reusable PPE during the pandemic.
The company also made a donation to Women in Science & Engineering (WISE), an organization chosen by Gilbert to support girls considering careers in STEM. “Our hope is to support and ignite children’s imaginations playing out their own storylines as heroes,” said Lisa McKnight, global head of Barbie and dolls at Mattel Inc.
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