Smithsonian Channel™ Canada’s new documentary special, COVID: Race Against the Virus (1×60’), chronicles the first critical months of the COVID-19 outbreak from some of the world’s leading scientific experts, virologists, modelers and immunologists as they work together to understand, treat and find a vaccine for the deadliest virus in a century. Under normal circumstances, it typically takes 10 years for a new vaccine to go through clinical trials to test whether it’s safe and effective, and then bring it to market. COVID-19 afforded no such luxury and continues to spread and kill at an unprecedented rate. The one-hour special captures the chaos of 2020 with interviews from the scientists who hold the fate of the world in their hands, alongside news footage and clips from political leaders reacting to the outbreak. COVID: Race Against the Virus airs Friday, February 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel Canada as part of the channel’s nationwide free preview event running until April 4 across 8.1 million Canadian households.
“We are unlocking viewer access to COVID: Race Against the Virus during Smithsonian Channel Canada’s Free Preview event so we can share the stories of the extraordinary doctors and scientists featured with audiences nationwide,” says Craig Junner, VP, Programming, Canadian Media, Blue Ant Media. “We are living in an era that will one day be written about in history books, but until then, we are bringing viewers this inspiring and educational documentary capturing the magnitude of the COVID-19 outbreak and the scientists who stepped up to find a vaccine in record time.”
COVID: Race Against the Virus includes interviews with Prof. Sarah Gilbert, vaccinologist behind the University of Oxford’s approved COVID-19 vaccine; Prof. Calum Semple OBE, leading clinical scientist in outbreak research; Prof. Derek Angus, critical care specialist and COVID-19 drugs trial founder; and Virginia Hughes, science editor covering COVID-19 treatments and vaccines for The New York Times.
COVID: Race Against the Virus was produced by Voltage TV Productions Limited for Smithsonian Channel. Sanjay Singhal and Jonathan Smith serve as Executive Producers. Nick Green serves as Director and Sarah-Louise Ball serves as Producer on the series. Overseeing the series for Smithsonian Channel is Chris Hoelzl, SVP, Research and Development; Charles Poe, SVP, Global Production and Emerging Technology; and David Royle.
