Peter Hotez joins TWiV to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, including why it went out of control in the US, the hijacking of public health practices by anti-science extremist groups, prospects for control, and whether we will be prepared for the next one.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker
Guest: Peter Hotez
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Download TWiV 687 (83 MB .mp3, 138 min)
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Links for this episode
- Peter Hotez on TWiP 29 and TWiV Special 2:43
- Wednesday, January 20, 2021 (Microbes Inf) 11:38
- SARS-CoV-2 RBD protein vaccine candidate (bioRxiv) 34:50
- Anti-science extremism in America (Microbes Inf) 7:29
- Low cost accessible COVID-19 vaccine (PLoS NTD) 34:50
- Letters read on TWiV 687 1:21:03
- Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!
Weekly Science Picks 2:06:06
Dickson – The World’s First Energy-Positive Hotel to Open in Norway
Brianne – The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science
Alan – ACIP’s ethical principles for COVID-19 vaccine allocation
Rich – The Mandolorian
Vincent – T. rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez
Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees
Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv
Rich, thanks for mentioning that you’re taking Briana’s course. I just looked it up on youtube and will start watching her lectures.
Hello TWiVers.
As a german and living in Germany, I want to explain something about the situation here:
In the discussion it looked like the protests in Berlin were about some simple rules for masks or social distancing.
But that’s just not the case.
They were protests against about a new emergency law, which takes away some of our basic rights like bodily integrity, free practice of a profession, freedom of movement, sanctuary of our homes and the right to decide the whereabouts of our children.
And this law can be declared by the minister of health, and there are no clear contraints about when this is possible, no definitive level of thread. ist given.
In the more than 50 years I life here, that’s about the most severe restriction of basic rights of the citizens ever.
So the stakes are quite a bit higher than just wearing a mask or not.
I’m sorry if that’s a bit more political that your podcast ususally aims to be, but since it’s a mostly political situation it’s hard to explain it without getting a bit into politics.
Best regards,
Knut Schünemann
Brianne Barker has an excellent p0int. We need more information to get out there on the intermediate effects of Covid-19, what lies between the snuffles and death. The DALYs, the long-term disability (and even short-term effects), susceptibility to future infections etc (next year’s influenza season for example). Generally, we have avoided this narrative with respect to influenza in the past, it’s really time for a change in how we approach communication regarding respiratory infections in public health in general.