It’s great news that we have the first of the promising vaccines. The scientists at BioNTech-Pfizer that developed it, and all of the other vaccines that are being created, deserve all the plaudits and prizes and TV interviews that are coming their way. 

But innovation is just the first part of a long process from test-tube to arm.  It’s something to celebrate but only the beginning.  All great inventions start with a creative developer.  Many inventions die because they failed to interest the market in building the infrastructure to deliver them as a product.

Inventing the internal combustion engine did not create the family car that transformed the lives of millions.  That was done by the unsung heroes of industry, the engineers, the factory workers, the inspectors who understood how to manufacture at scale with repeatable quality, day after day, year after year and to make endless small improvements along the way to create the product we have today.  They are followed by the heroes of logistics, who understand how to move goods around the world at scale: the shippers, the drivers, the couriers. Then there are the heroes of administration, the customs officers, the health and safety inspectors, the people who fill in the forms that let goods cross the world securely. Just like the scientists they have to do their jobs with dedication and persistence, and they will have to go on doing them for years to come.

The latest vaccine needs every one of those heroes.  It needs to be kept at -70 degrees as it is transported across the globe. It will be manufactured in many countries and consumed in many more. The lives of a huge number people will depend not just on the scientists but on all those who will get it to where it is needed.

We need inventors in the world, but we need the unsung heroes as well – without them no invention can succeed.  Let’s celebrate all the heroes who will get us back our lives and our economies.  Many of them do jobs that seem dull.  They are paid very little and celebrated even less.  They are the unseen leaders in the war against Covid.  It’s time to appreciate their contribution.

Pat Chapman-Pincher

November 2020

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