Mattel has announced the release of a Barbie doll in the image of Professor Sarah Gilbert, an American virologist, one of the developers of the AstraZeneca vaccine. According to Sky News, the company intends to agitate girls to choose a career in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.
This summer, the “Barbie to Follow” program is aimed at those who help fight the COVID-19 epidemic. Professor Gilbert, who became the prototype for one of the dolls in the collection, said that she is enthusiastic that her example will inspire the younger generation.
Along with the virologist, the series of dolls will include five more heroines who in reality helped to fight the pandemic. Among them is an emergency department nurse who treated the first patient with COVID-19 in America, doctor, and activist Audrey Cruz, a psychiatrist at the University of Toronto, a biomedical researcher who scanned the COVID-19 genome in Brazil, and a co-founder of a company that produces reusable clothing for workers of the “red zone”.
It is reported that the Mattel Corporation will also make a donation to the organization “Women in Science and Technology” chosen by Professor Gilbert.
