Richard Moxon Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

The founder of the world-leading group that created the Oxford Astrazeneca Covid vaccine Professor Richard Moxon discusses immunisation and the huge public benefits that it brings.

Moxon was part of a group of scientists that pioneered the development of vaccines to prevent bacterial meningitis. He looks at what it takes to develop a vaccine and why vaccines are so important in our fight against diseases such as meningitis and COVID-19. Moxon founded the Oxford Vaccine Group in 1994. He has since retired, but the group itself achieved worldwide fame when it and Oxford University’s Jenner Institute were one of the first to produce an approved vaccine for COVID-19, the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine. By summer 2021, one billion doses of the vaccine had been released.

Moxon is emeritus professor of paediatrics at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Jesus College. He was head of the Molecular Infectious Diseases Group in the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine between 1988 and 2008. He was described as ‘a pioneer of the molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis, and the first one to link them to clinical practice, vaccine development, and public health’ by Dr Rino Rappuoli, chief scientist and head of external research and development at GSK Vaccines.

This event is part of a series on pioneers.