Hello and welcome to the History Extra Podcast from BBC History Magazine, Britain's

bestselling history magazine.

I'm Ellie Corthon.

The world is currently pinning its hopes on the success of the new COVID-19 vaccines

being rolled out.

But can we draw any comfort from previous efforts to conquer lethal diseases?

Gareth Williams, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Bristol, wrote a feature

for the January issue of BBC History Magazine, which discusses historical races to develop

vaccines.

That's the subject of today's podcast.

He spoke to our production editor, Spencer Misen, about vaccines of the past, touching

on everything from Edward Jenner's war on smallpox in the 18th century to two rival scientists

bitter battle to conquer polio in 1950s America.

OK, so Gareth, your feature in our January issue tells the story of the race to develop

vaccines to combat smallpox, rabies, TB and polio.

Before looking at these in more detail, I wonder if I could start by asking you if you've

been surprised by the speed of which her vaccine has been developed to combat COVID-19?

I think one of the great success stories of the year is the speed of which vaccines have

been developed against COVID-19.

This was a virus which was essentially unknown a year ago and we've gone from zero knowledge

to understanding a great deal about the way that the virus behaves.

Obviously, there's still a lot.

...