Keep informed by scientists. Listen to the podcast “EPIDEMIC” from Seth Berkley and Peter Hotez episode S1E25 / A COVID Vaccine.

EPISODE SUMMARY

“Terrible diseases like smallpox, polio, yellow fever where, you know, the capital in the United States in those days, Philadelphia, in the 1700s, 10% of the population died. When you vaccinate against them, you prevent them, and they no longer are problems.” – Seth Berkley In today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain speak with Seth Berkley and Dr. Peter Hotez about a topic that has received a lot of attention lately– vaccines. They discuss the processes involved in developing a vaccine for COVID-19, including when we can realistically expect a vaccine to become available to the public. They talk about the concept of herd immunity and how high vaccination rates are an essential component to this process. They also discuss the anti-vaxxer movement and how mis-messaging may be playing a part in fueling the flames of this movement in regards to a COVID-19 vaccine. Finally, they talk about the need for continued vaccine research in order to be prepared for the next inevitable pandemic. Also, co-host Ron Klain says his farewell to “Epidemic” fans as he announces that this will be his final episode as a co-host of the podcast. Seth Berkley is the CEO of the GAVI Vaccine Alliance. Dr. Peter Hotez is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

On a personal note;

Farewell Ron Klain, you will be deeply missed. We hope to listen to your opinions soon, we need MORE PEOPLE paying attention to experts and scientist, and to remind the politicians how to properly respond to EPIDEMICS, as you mention in this last podcast:

“We need to be acting now to prepare you with that”…’the coronavirus is a natural phenomenon explained by science, but nothing about its impact, who it’s made sick, who has recovered, how we have handled the response, what communities it has devastated, what consequences it has had and will have, are the direct result of nature: rather, they are due to the society the virus has encountered and the choices we have made in response. Doctors, nurses, and researchers beat diseases, but policy, people, and public health beat pandemics. The choices we all make as a country decides who gets medical care and how, who gets medicines and vaccines and when, who is spared the disease because someone wears a mask or practices distancing or gets a test on time, and who gets the disease because others don’t.”

Ron Klain is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Revolution LLC, an investment firm launched by AOL Co-Founder Steve Case in 2005.  was a chief of staff to two vice presidents. In addition to his private sector career, Mr. Klain has devoted many years to public service, most recently as White House Ebola Response Coordinator (2014-15).