Speakers Evening

This was the appropriate and fascinating title of Vikki Renwick's virtual presentation to the Rotary Club of South Queensferry on Thursday 28th May.  Her experience as an analytical chemist cast a welcome light on the research, testing and development needed to take vaccines to the point where they can be used safely in the population.

Vikki, a member of Queensferry Rotary Club since 2019, qualified in chemistry  at Hull University (or 'Ull, as it is known locally). She has worked in various capacities in outsourced analytics, developing and validating drugs. By the medium of Zoom, Vikki explained that her work now chiefly consists of certifying and validating scientific procedures, confirming every batch of medicine has the correct composition through documented and validated laboratory chemical and microbiological tests and many other control processes.

Vikki's presentation showed that pharmaceutical manufacturers have the necessity for quality control and testing at every stage in the process before the product, such as a vitally important vaccine, can be certified as medically effective and safe for widespread use.  This requires supporting development and monitoring patient outcomes before the mass production of the product which can take in excess of ten to fifteen years. Under present circumstances, pharmaceutical quality systems play a vital role in the efforts to control Covid 19.