This accolade is one of the highest honours in science and is given to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science". The award recognises his unique contributions to understanding human immunity, his ground-breaking research on vaccines to prevent life-threatening childhood diseases like typhoid, meningitis and pneumonia, and his invaluable leadership in the development of vaccines for outbreaks of influenza, Ebola, and COVID-19 among others.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard said: "It is a huge honour to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society to join these most distinguished scientists of our time, standing on the shoulders of those past Fellows who changed our world over the past three and a half centuries. I am more than aware that this is not about me but recognition of the large team of brilliant researchers at the Oxford Vaccine Group and our global collaborators who have made extraordinary contributions to improving lives through immunisation ."
The Royal Society, established over 360 years ago, is the world's oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, dedicated to promoting excellence in science.