Public Health On Call

With a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines, the focus has been on getting the most vulnerable vaccinated first. But to reach the kind of population-level immunity needed to truly curb the pandemic, children will also need to be vaccinated. Dr. Kawsar Talaat, who led one of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trials in adults, talks with Stephanie Desmon about when and how vaccines will be authorized for children. KEYWORDS: child health; vaccine authorization; vaccine trial

Morale is up and case numbers are down at Johns Hopkins Hospital, but infection prevention expert Dr. Lisa Maragakis says vaccines are in a race against variants and we shouldn't let our guard down. Dr. Maragakis talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about "watching evolution in real time" with mutations of SARS-CoV-2, staying the course with infection prevention, and when things could really take a turn for the better if we resist the urge to relax too much, too quickly. KEYWORDS: viral mutation; herd immunity; pandemic response

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Monica Gandhi returns to the podcast to talk about why she's so optimistic about COVID-19 vaccines and their ability to free us from the pandemic. Dr. Gandhi talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the great results from clinical trials, why she is hopeful the vaccines will work against variants, some guidance for the newly-vaccinated about returning to "normal" life, and her latest insights on masks. KEYWORDS: vaccine trial; vaccine authorization; immune response

Although America is struggling to vaccinate our most vulnerable populations in a race against variants, just vaccinating people here won't help bring the pandemic to an end around the world. Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University professor and public health expert, talks with Stephanie Desmon about how our ethical duty to ensure equitable distribution of the vaccine worldwide is not only the morally right thing to do, it's in our own national interests. KEYWORDS: international health; supply chain; vaccine trial

This week, the US passed the tragic milestone of 500,000 lives lost to COVID-19. Each death generates a circle of trauma for family and friends. Annette March Grier is a nurse and the founder and president of Roberta's House, a support center to help grieving families in Baltimore. Grier talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how to cope with grief, how to help others, and what the nation needs to do to heal. KEYWORDS: community mental health; intergenerational trauma

From seasonal flu to SARS, outbreaks and epidemics occur regularly and require sophisticated data analysis to help decision makers know how to respond. Dr. Caitlin Rivers from the Center for Health Security talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about President Biden's new federal directive to create a National Weather Service model for epidemics to track infectious disease threats. Someday soon, perhaps: Don't forget an umbrella...and a mask. KEYWORDS: policy; forecast

While some predicted that lockdowns in the US might lead to a baby boom, the reality is that COVID-19 seems to be impacting demographics more like a disaster or a recession than a snowstorm. Sociologist Dr. Philip Cohen talks with Stephanie Desmon about the pandemic's effects on babies, marriages, and divorces, some unique methods of predicting trends, and the likely demographic effects of a situation that's "exacerbating every kind of inequality we see." KEYWORDS: health equity; community mental health; birthrate

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stress test for democracy, exposing fault lines that already existed. So, where do we go from here? Dr. Hahrie Han, inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute and Hopkins political science professor, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what it means for democracy to be in crisis, the parallels of this moment to a century ago, why the pandemic became politically polarizing in some countries but not others, and what we can learn from history and evangelical megachurches to help us address these challenges going forward. KEYWORDS: policy; pandemic response

A person's worldview is a fundamental, gut-level set of instincts that has played a larger role in influencing political attitudes and affiliations in the last two decades. It can also influence thinking on the COVID-19 pandemic and on protective actions like mask wearing and social distancing. Marc Hetherington and Jonathan Weiler, UNC professors and authors of the book "Prius or Pickup? How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America's Great Divide," talk with guest host Colleen Barry about the concept of worldview and why it matters for understanding the politics of COVID-19. KEYWORDS: policy; political science

In this episode, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Hopkins researchers who break down three research papers with implications for the national discussion over COVID and schools. Dr. Nikolas Wada talks about a paper related to how the coronavirus is transmitted in schools in the United Kingdom; Dr. Sheree Schwartz talks about a paper examining children's role in the household transmission of COVID-19; and PhD student Greg Rosen talks about a study of what happened with national COVID cases in Israel when schools reopened with few precautions last spring. All three researchers are part of the novel coronavirus research consortium, with many summaries of new studies available at http://ncrc.jhsph.edu. KEYWORDS: child health; student life; pandemic response