Dr. Sasha Larsen Akins ’09 ’11, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biological science from University of the Pacific, has worked on clinical trials for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for much of the past year.

Larsen Akins spoke virtually to Pacificans on Feb. 24 as part of the Pacific Alumni Association’s Leading Voices series.

She was interviewed by Provost Maria Pallavicini in the first part of this video. Starting at about the 23-minute mark, Larsen Akins answers specific questions about the pandemic, vaccines, side effects, the safe opening of schools and much more.

Larsen Akins works at the Center for Global Infectious Disease Research at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Read more about her work and her time at Pacific.

PLEASE NOTE: Dr. Larsen-Akins would like to make a correction to a statement in the video: The Johnson & Johnson vaccine candidate is a viral vector platform, and not protein-adjuvant.