Public Health On Call

The CDC has been hailed as the world's leading public health agency, but throughout the COVID-19 pandemic—a time when the agency should have been leading the charge—its responses have fallen short of expectations. Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska and a former top CDC official, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what went wrong despite decades of preparation. Dr. Khan also shares what needs to happen for the agency to regain credibility and meet the pressing challenges of COVID-19 and other public health crises. (This interview was recorded on November 6.) KEYWORDS: health communication; policy

The health impacts of climate change can be severe: asthma attacks triggered by mold from flooding, infectious diseases spread by mosquitoes which thrive in warmer and wetter climates, and violent conflict over dwindling clean water sources. Dr. Megan Latshaw talks with Stephanie Desmon about a new report card grading states on how well they are prepared to protect people from health effects linked with climate change, showing which states are most vulnerable and how a coordinated national response could help prevent catastrophic impacts. For more information, visit www.climateandhealthreport.org. KEYWORDS: natural disaster; policy; environmental health

Elizabeth Letourneau, director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, talks with Stephanie Desmon about a groundbreaking new report to help youth serving organizations prevent child sexual abuse. For more information, visit https://americanhealth.jhu.edu/youth-serving-organizations KEYWORDS: policy; child health

Although there's enough data to show that K-12 schools are not driving COVID-19 transmission, many are still closed even though bars, restaurants, and gyms are open. Brown economist Dr. Emily Oster returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about the latest data on schools and COVID-19, why many places haven't prioritized reopening schools, and what might get us out of this situation. KEYWORDS: schools; student life; pandemic response

Treatment for opioid use disorder can be highly effective in preventing overdoses, but only if it's easily accessible. Last spring, Dr. Chinazo Cunningham's health clinic in the South Bronx found itself in the "epicenter of the epicenter" of the COVID-19 outbreak that devastated New York. Dr. Cunningham talks with guest host Brendan Saloner about how the clinic adapted to continue providing patient-centered care during shutdowns, the uptick in overdoses in 2020 that predated the pandemic, and the need for urgent policy changes from the Biden administration to stem the opioid epidemic.

With COVID-19 cases on the rise, the CDC and other health authorities are urging people to avoid nonessential travel in the coming weeks. But there are also concerns about the physical and emotional health of those who may be isolated during the pandemic, and some may be determined to travel to see a loved one face to face no matter what. Epidemiologist Keri Althoff and mental health expert Elizabeth Stuart talk with Stephanie Desmon about the logistics of pandemic travel, quarantine and testing protocols, important conversations to have starting now. KEYWORDS: community mental health; testing methods; social distancing

While clinical trials are a "gold standard" to indicate if a vaccine's benefits outweigh its risks, safety monitoring doesn't stop there. Dr. Daniel Salmon, director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Vaccine Safety, helped lead federal efforts to monitor the H1N1 vaccine's safety once it became widely used in 2009. Dr. Salmon talks with Stephanie Desmon about what goes into monitoring a vaccine for safety, identifying coincidental vs. uncommon effects, and what the public needs to know to enhance trust in COVID-19 vaccines. KEYWORDS: vaccine authorization; vaccine trial; vaccine hesitancy

After a decade of work, COVID-19 vaccines are the first RNA vaccines to be put through the paces of clinical trials. But what sets RNA vaccine technology apart from more traditional methods and how might this new platform be used going forward? Hopkins immunologist Dr. Diane Griffin talks with Stephanie Desmon about RNA vaccines, what they are and why they're different, complications that still need to be worked out, and how this groundbreaking new platform could help vaccinate us against future outbreaks. KEYWORDS: vaccine development

As part of the continuation of the series on racism as a public health crisis, Dr. Keshia Pollack Porter talks with Hopkins professor Dr. Roland J. Thorpe, Jr., and Dr. Marino A. Bruce, faculty at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, about the impacts of racism on black men's health. They discuss what stands in the way of basic care for many black men to have a good quality of life and their focus is not only on making sure black men survive, but also thrive. KEYWORDS: health equity; racial disparity; community mental health

Prior to Thanksgiving, the city of Philadelphia announced new COVID-19 restrictions to last for six weeks until January 1—some of the strictest recommendations the country has seen since the spring. Health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley talks with Stephanie Desmon about these targeted restrictions the city hopes will prevent the current surge from overwhelming hospitals or killing large numbers of people, what contact tracing data are saying about how and where most people are getting infected, and why there's more pushback now even though cases are exponentially higher than they were in the spring. KEYWORDS: pandemic response; pollicy; contact tracing