Reporter in december, 2019, while most of the world was celebrating the holidays. In the Industrial City of wuhan, china, home to 11 million people, the virus was spreading. At first, it seemed like a local problem. A newly identified, deadly virus from china. 45 cases have been reported in china, including two deaths. The chinese city of wuhan locked down. More than 600 infected and its spreading fast. Fear it could spread further. Reporter it was over there, in china, where, frankly, theyve had a lot of outbreaks over the years. China has reported 136 cases of the bird flu. Emergence follows that of the fatal strain last year. Chinas desperate bid to control the latest, bird flu virus. Reporter but this was no bird flu. And the world, soon, began to take notice. St. Marys hospital, in london, has a long and storied history fighting disease. Penicillin was discovered here, in 1928. It revolutionized medicine. Today, researchers here from Imperial College are working for another, radical breakthrough. I think we will see technology that completely changes the way vaccines are being made. And covid19 is allowing us to try those technologies. Reporter back in january, professor robin was watching the news coming out of china, with growing concern. At that stage, it wasnt a pandemic. It was an outbreak in wuhan. And at that stage, when youve got a few thousand cases, it could be a blip. It could go away. Why did you think that it would just be a china bug, instead of a worldwide pandemic, initially . Because weve often seen small outbreaks of different viruses, that come and disappear. Reporter but this virus wasnt disappearing. It was multiplying, exponentially. When i heard about wuhan, i didnt pay that much attention to it, until it was clear that it was escalating. Reporter professor peter has spent his long and celebrated career fighting infectious diseases. He and a colleague discovered ebola in the 1970s. Pyatt was a in the battle against hiv and aids. For years, i was we have to be prepared for the next, big one. A virus that is transmitted airborne, respiratory transmitted, and we are not prepared for it. But it was respiratory transmitted. In wuhan, see far more cases than, in total, we had with sars. And then, i thought we were in trouble. You have got asymptomatic transmission. And so, it was almost impossible to lock the world down in a way that would have kept it contained in one part of the world. Is that its hidden strength . That it can be passed on by people who dont know they are sick . Yeah. I think that is the reason it got transmitted very efficiently. Reporter as the virus spread from one unsuspecting carrier to the next, china swung into action. Its first move was to silence and discredit the doctor who sounded the alarm. When that didnt work, the government swooped in, with all its authoritarian might. If you had a fever, you were found. And if you refused to go quietly, you were rounded up. And if you still refused, you were barricaded inside your home. But, china did Something Else that few people noticed. It made a call for help. An appeal to the world. Written in genetic code. Each virus, just as each individual, we have a unique set of nucleic acids. This is the genetic code that really makes who we are, in addition to our environment and our education. And you can identify a virus, exactly, on that kind of code. Reporter just like people, viruses are biological formulas. They are nothing more than strings of genetic code. And on january 10th, just weeks into the outbreak, chinese researchers did something extraordinary. They cracked the viruss code, and published that code online. On the base of that sequence, you can also tell which parts of the virus are going to be important for the immune response, how we react to it. If you have that sequence, you can do lot of things. That really provided everybody in the world with a blueprint that they could use for their different vaccine technologies. So in many ways, that was firing the starting gun for all these different vaccine candidates. This is the code china published online. This is sars covi 2. 30,000 characters. The exact formula for what has been disrupting all of our lives and killed more than a million people. By putting the formula online, china was saying to the world, heres the enemy. Now, help us defeat it. Well, the best and brightest minds saw what china had posted and took up that challenge. Once you have that code, the first thing you can do is to say this is you . Weve never seen this virus before. And on the base of that code, you can replicate it in the lab. We felt we should actually stand up to the plate and make a vaccine. But thats when we started to get going. Reporter the race for a vaccine had now begun. And the first step was understanding the virus, in minute detail. The coronavirus is a tine think sphere. So tiny, that 100 million of them can fit on a pinhead. You cant see them under a normal microscope. Viruses cannot survive without a living cell. Whether thats animal or a human or a plant cell. Because they are incomplete in their survival mechanism, and thats why they will always be looking for human beings, in the case of viruses, to survive. The coronavirus has a unique way of getting into our cells. Through the spikes that act like little claws. Theyre called coronaviruses for a reason. You know, its a crown with spikes. And its these spikes that really are going to penetrate into the cells. They work as the kind of attachment process to gain entry into cells. So if you didnt have those bits on the surface, the virus would be dead. Because it would be smooth. It would just move along, wouldnt attach to anything. So, the surface protein, that no those spikes recognize a receptor that allows the virus to dock onto cells, gain entry into those cells, and initiate the infection process. The spikes are the viruss greatest weapon. But they are, also, its greatest weakness. And these tiny spikes are the target of every major vaccine in development. Vaccines were first invented to treat small pox, 200 years ago, by the british dr. Edward jenner. The National Academy of Sciences Says there was not a single case of small pox reported anywhere on this planet, last year. Reporter and since they were first introduced, vaccines have barely changed. Vaccines are actually biological products that try to mimic a natural infection. So, you inject, could be, against measles or whatever. Its a fake infection. You fool the immune system. The immune system thinks, oh, im infected with measles. Reporter most of the vaccines we get and give our children today for mumps, measles, or rubella are simply weakened viruses. We trick our bodies into triggering an immune response. Our bodies do the rest. Vaccines have saved more lives than any other medical discovery, in human history. Making vaccines has been a slow and laborintensive process. They had to be grown, often in chken eggs, one at a time. Now, technology is changing everything. In the race for the Covid Vaccine, scientists are going right to the genetic code. There are more than 100 vaccines in development. They have different approaches, but they all have the same goal. To get our bodies to recognize those little spikes, and prevent them from locking on. Our body reacts because its a foreign invasion. And one part of the defense are socalled antibodies. These are the ground troops. What they do is they protect the cell by basically coating the whole virus with antibodies, so that the virus cant penetrate the cells. These antibodies lock on to the surface of the virus, on to those spikes, and mean that the virus can no longer get into the cells. So its keeping outside of the cells and rendering it noninfectious. Reporter finding a vaccine is the key to reopening our societies. It is the holy grail of medicine, today. And the Biggest Surprise may be that scientists created a vaccine almost as soon as the virus broke out. Back in january, when china published the genetic code online, professor fed those 30,000 characters into a computer. The next day, he had a design for the vaccine. A recipe, on a computer at least, to kill the coronavirus. Thats the speed at which people can move, in terms of that design element. Then, the next thing is to take that that computerdesigned construct and actually put it together in the laboratory. To take it off the computer screen, and put it into the real world. Yes, and that took a couple of weeks to do that. To verify that it was working in the laboratory. And then, start looking at whether it actually induced an immune response in animals. But, even thats mind blowing. So, you get the formula. In a day, the computer spits out a code for a vaccine. And then, just a few months later, you have a prototype vaccine. Yeah. So, here, at this unassuming lab and its several laboratories worldwide, scientists had, not just an idea for the vaccine but, a real prototype vaccine, capable of neutralizing the coronavirus within weeks of the outbreak. What we didnt know, whether it would work, whether it was safe. Now, the real challenge is will it produce the right immune response in humans . And then, will it be protective . Reporter and herein lies the problem. Scientists were sure they could cure the virus but would the cure kill us, in the process . At the end of january, dozens of laboratories in asia, europe, and the United States, were focused on making a vaccine that was, both, safe and effective for the entire world. With so much at stake and so much to gain, the race for the vaccine got dirty. With false claims, propaganda, and cyberattacks. And whoever obtains the vaccine first, not only obtaining the actual vaccine, manufacture it, put it in a vial, distribute it, all the way to inoculation, in hundreds of millions of doses, is going to be the geopolitical leader of the world. Ader of the world. Tonight. Ill be eating chicken tikka masala with garlic naan. [doorbell chimes] cheers. I win again, patrick. Thats siiir patrick. Oooooow. Sir. burke stomer happy anniversary. customer for what . burke home deductible. Every year youre with us, you get fifty dollars toward your its a policy perk for being a farmers customer. customer do i have to do anything . burke nothing. customer nothing . burke nothing. customer nothing . burke nothing. customer hmm, that is really something. burke you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. See ya. kid may i have a balloon, too . burke sure. Your parents have maintained a farmers home policy for twelve consecutive months, right . We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum burke start with a quote at 1800farmers. Sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Depend. [anthat can leave cleaning gaps and wrap hair. So shark replaced them with flexible power fins to directly engage floors and dig deep into carpets. Pick up more on every pass with no hair wrap. Shark vertex with duoclean power fins. In the summer of 2020, russia surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases. The kremlin had initially downplayed the pandemic, and paid a price for it. But then, president Vladimir Putin made a surprise announcement. A major, medical milestone reached here, in the past couple of hours. Russia officially started rolling out a vaccine. If this claim turns out it be true, russia could be declared putin has made no secret of russias ambition to be the first to win the vaccine race. Sputnik v. V for vaccine, named after the first satellite ever launched into space by the soviet union. The Scientific Achievement by soviet russia in beating the United States of america in the race to launch the first, manmade reporter putin launched a pr campaign with graphics showing how russias vaccine would save the planet. Translator i know that our vaccine works effectively, forms a strong immunity, and i repeat, it has passed all the necessary checks. Reporter but thats not exactly true. Every covid19 vaccine candidate must go through at least three phases of human trials. Phase one. Is the drug safe for humans . A small number of brave volunteers try the drug to see if research should continue. Phase two. An expanded number of volunteers take the vaccine. Their health monitored, regularly. And phase three. Does it work on a large scale . Tens of thousands of volunteers are given the vaccine to check for adverse reactions, which could be rare but important when trying to vaccinate the entire world. Russia only went to phase two and declared victory. I dont find it acceptable that you take shortcuts, injecting lots of people with materials that have not been really well documented for efficacy and, you know, and safety. Its not something that would be acceptable here. If we would try to do that, it would be, not only unethical but, also, it would deter people from being vaccinated. If i didnt believe in the vaccine, if i didnt understand the Science Behind it, i would never have injected myself with it. Reporter the head of a russianstatecontrolled investment fund, hes part of putins inner circle and hes the pitchman for russias main vaccine. What would you say to people who are skeptical . Say, i dont want to take some russian vaccine thats been rushed through the system. Of course, people will have a choice. I think, again, we need to make sure the Different Countries have a choice. Have all the data available. You know, we could have been very hidden about our vaccine. We could have just vaccinated our people, not sharing the nature of the vaccine, not sharing information. But this is not the approach we are taking. And i think, again, this is something that has to be respected. Reporter putin said he even gave his daughter the vaccine. Putin has two daughters. Hes very secretive about them. One is believed to be a scientist. The other, a competitive, rockandroll dancer. He didnt say which one took the vaccine. Russia wasnt alone. China has gone even further. It has begun rolling out its vaccines. Giving doses to medical personnel, the military, and students. China seems to be doing some phasethree trials. The ones that test for side effects in large populations on its own people. Clearly, the national prestige, projection of scientific prowess, my system of government is better than yours, you know, capitalism versus communism. All of that is at play. And i think, you know, the race for a Covid Vaccine is the race for the moon, on steroids. Reporter lawrence is a professor of Global Health law at georgetown university. He was also on the board for pandemics at the world health organization. It really is becoming a geopolitical race for bragging and boasting rights. I dont think we should fool anyone to think there is a collaborative mindset across the globe with nation states in this effort. Its a battle space, economically, geopolitically. Reporter he is the u. S. Governments mostsenior spy hunter. We continue to see efforts by both russia and china and others to not only beat us to the race with producing the vaccine. But also, aguegressive attemptso steal what we are producing in the trial phases, in the researchanddevelopment phase. Is, right now, the vaccine the primary target that hackers and cyber spies are trying to to discover . Steal . Theres probably not a whole lot more thats more important, in the world, right now than a race for this vaccine. Almost certainly linked to russian intelligence have been targeting scientists in britain. Weve sort of been seeing targeting from a whole range of actors. The one weve called out specifically was russia. Reporter paul heads operations at the uks Cybersecurity Division at gchq, britains equivalent to the nsa. To take an interest in the uk response to coronavirus when the world was i think sort of really realizing the importance of the situation it find itself in. These are direct operatives working for the government . In this instance, we believe it is russian intelligence services, directly. Reporter british Officials Say they caught the russians thaz tried to steal data from Oxford University and its vaccinemanufacturing partner, astrazeneca. What we see is potentially theft of intellectual property and data behind trials and some of the research. American authorities and british authorities have accused russia of hacking. Of trying to steal scientific information regarding vaccines. What do you say to that . Afraid of russians having a sputnik sort of vaccine. Being first out there when there is nobody else out there. But again, we are not focused on being the first. The world needs to put the previous political barriers aside. Reporter but while russia appears to be the epitome of global cooperation, state media have spread disinformation and cartoons smearing rival vaccines. Suggesting they could turn you into monkeys. How successful have they been . How much have they managed to steal . How much have they managed to disrupt, destroy, confuse . I cant get into what they have potentially stolen or what their Operational Success is but lets just say theyve been superaggressive. A lot of the work being done in russia and china has already been predicated on stolen research here in the u. S. How do you know that . We see a lot of the same signatures on our vaccines as we see on their vaccine. There is only one place they could have got it from. In july, the u. S. Government formally accused two governmentlinked hackers of stealing u. S. Also closed the chinese consulate in houston, texas, labeling it a center of espionage. As chinese officials were leaving, consulate staff could be seen burning what appeared to be documents outside the building. Covid has become the economic battle space as we move forward to the next couple years. D to the next couple years oooh. You meant the food, didnt you . But we are hoping things will pick up by q3. Yeah. Uh. Boss doug . Sorry about that. Umm. What. Its. Um. Boss you alright . [sigh] [ding] never settle with power e trade. 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