The coronavirus crisis and the race for a vaccine have thrust us into a new era of science

Finding a way to prevent or treat Covid-19 is the overwhelming focus in medical research facilities around the world, and the rate of development and international cooperation is ‘unprecedented’, says Dr Shaun Fitzgerald

Around 200 vaccine projects have been launched globally (AP)

For most of us whose calling in life was science, we have not only been captivated by the expansion of knowledge, but how new understanding can transform our lives.

It underpins our fundamental understanding of how the world works, how the universe exploded into existence roughly 14 billion years ago, how the stars and planets formed, how the 92 natural elements were forged in those stars, and how life on Earth began 3.8 billion years ago. All knowledge we owe to science.

But for a long time now, interest in science has been dwindling. In March this year the Wellcome Trust published its Science Education Tracker for England in 2019 and the results were startling. Its survey of over 6,000 students aged 11 to 18 found only 41 per cent believed an understanding of science was important to their daily lives. And yet the whole of our modern lives, from technology and engineering to revolutions in healthcare, are based on it.

Sadly, it seems science has not captured the public’s imagination since its dizzying apex during the space race – the science equivalent of an arms race. This fraught period of the 20th century was punctuated with breakthroughs, and saw a century’s worth of scientific and technological progress take place in just over a decade, from the development of cordless telephones and keyboards to the launch of space satellites that continue to illuminate our night skies today.

The impact it had on science was profound. American high school science education “was catapulted in a few short years from the 18th to the 20th century”, as the New York Times put it. Many of those same children who, like me, grew up glued to their television sets, eagerly watching the science develop – from Belka the dog returning from space in 1960 to Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon in 1969 – dreamed of becoming a rocket scientist or an astronaut.

And today, because of a disease none of us sought, the rhythms of our lives have been utterly disrupted and we have been thrust into a new era of scientific development. We could all be forgiven for forgetting – sequestered as we are in our homes – the sheer scale of the transformation that is unfolding before our eyes.

As our understanding of how this disease grows, it is science in the spotlight; our academics and experts rising to the challenge, analysing new data as it emerges on a daily basis not just in the UK, but around the world.

And they’ve met this challenge head on. In my professional career, spanning some 20 years in the field, I have never before witnessed the level of collaboration and urgency that’s on display every day of the past six months from scientists, engineers and health experts working at the frontline of this disease.

Our scientific community has had a rocket put under it. PhD students, professors, scientific advisers, modellers, academics and leading practising engineers and clinicians from all corners of the UK are working in lockstep, united with a common purpose – to provide the best scientific advice that can be applied to saving lives.

Finding a way to prevent or treat Covid-19 is the overwhelming focus in medical research facilities around the world, and the rate of development is almost impossible to track. Take vaccines. There are some 200 vaccine projects in the works and the speed of development and international cooperation is the dictionary definition of “unprecedented”.

The fastest path to a licensed vaccine, depending on how you clock it, is held by the mumps vaccine – developed in just four years in the 1960s. Many of the best minds are working flat out with counterparts around the world, as you read this, to smash that record.

As the UK continues to ease lockdown restrictions, the urgency of this scientific mission is becoming even more apparent. Several countries around the world, including Germany and the US, are seeing fresh spikes in Covid-19 infections, with some health leaders warning that the UK needs to be alive to the possibility of a second wave.

While the hunt for a cure proceeds at record pace, scientists and clinicians are also searching for treatment options to reduce the numbers of people becoming critically ill and dying. Mega-hospitals have been built around the country in just over a week, and we’ve witnessed the innovation and enterprise of businesses called upon to build equipment for the health service.

At the same time, engineering organisations of varying sizes and from a host of different sectors have brought their expertise together to design, develop and produce key items of medical equipment for the NHS.

This period of international scientific camaraderie is already unearthing dazzling new technologies and scientific methods that will be part of our society for generations to come.

What the crisis has shown is just how incredibly important, urgent – and, yes, exciting – science really is.

Dr Shaun Fitzgerald sits on the environmental working group of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage)