Gilbert has been involved with the development of a new vaccination to protect against coronavirus since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.[19][20][21][2] She leads the work on this vaccine candidate alongside Andrew Pollard, Teresa Lambe, Sandy Douglas, Catherine Green and Adrian Hill.[22] As with her earlier work, the COVID-19 vaccine makes use of an adenoviral vector, which stimulates an immune response against the coronavirus spike protein.[19][20] Plans were announced to start animal studies in March 2020, and recruitment began of 510 human participants for a phase I/II trial on 27 March.[23][24][25] In April 2020, Gilbert was reported as saying that her candidate vaccine could be available by September 2020,[26] if everything goes to plan with the clinical trial, which has received funding from sources such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.[27] In April 2020, she was interviewed about the developments by Andrew Marr on BBC television.[28] Because of her vaccine research, in May 2020, Gilbert featured on The Times' 'Science Power List'.[29]