A weekly update on new research and developments concerning COVID-19 (and occasionally other infectious diseases that hit the news).
We take questions via call-in during the live broadcast, Mondays at 7:33am Pacific, streaming via kpfa.org. Podcasts with show notes go up later the same day. Between live shows, we take questions via email at upfront@kpfa.org .
Our guest most weeks is Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Our question-wrangler most weeks is Brian Edwards-Tiekert, host of KPFA’s morning public affairs program, UpFront.
Music: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Discussed in this episode: HHS Secretary RFK Jr. has signed an order rescinding the federal government’s recommendation of flu vaccines that contain a preservative called thimerosal. The preservative is only used in multi-dose vials — which are used to provide less than 4% of flu vaccinations in the US, typically in hard-to-reach places with poor … Continued
Discussed in this episode: There are indications a late-summer wave is building: high levels of COVID being detected in sewage sample across much of the US (including California), and the rise to dominance of one subvariant (NB.1.8.1) in COVID samples that get genetically sequenced. (When one subvariant rapidly replaces others in sampling, that suggests it … Continued
Discussed in this episode: Trump’s Big Bill will result in an estimated 12-17 million people losing their health coverage. This will cut most of them off from their most trusted source of information on navigating public health crises: primary care providers. It will also put an enormous strain on the medical facilities that serve them, … Continued
Discussed in this episode: Dr. Swartzberg’s just back from spending three weeks overseas without getting sick — he shares what precautions (and calculated risks) he took. The work to establish new clearinghousees for reliable information and consensus recommendations about vaccination, like the Vaccine Integrity Project at the University of Minnesota. To send us a question … Continued
Discussed in this episode: The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices just held its first meeting since HHS Secretary RFK Jr. fired and replaced all 17. CDC staff presented data showing strong results from last year’s COVID boosters–they significantly reduced the likelihood of severe COVID; the benefits lasted longer before waning than in previous years, … Continued
Dr. John Swartzberg is off this week; in his stead we speak to Dr. Paul Offit, a teaching pediatrician at the University of Pennsylvania who directs The Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and formerly serviced on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). His most recent book is Tell Me When … Continued
Discussed in this episode: There are growing concerns that a new Omicron subvariant – NB.1.8.1 – may be good enough at spreading to cause a new case surge. The Trump administration appears to have just fired four members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — the council of experts that recommends vaccination policy to … Continued
DIscussed in this episode: On Friday, the Kennedy Food and Drug Administration approved a new Moderna COVID vaccine that targets a smaller section of the COVID-19 spike protein than previous vaccines, but also restricted its use. What’s new: Moderna’s trials showed a higher antibody response than for previous COVID vaccines, and fewer side effects. The … Continued
We take questions via call-in during the live broadcast, Mondays at 7:33am Pacific, streaming via kpfa.org. Podcasts with show notes go up later the same day. Between live shows, we take questions via email at upfront@kpfa.org . Our guest most weeks is Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. … Continued
Discussed in this episode: The Trump FDA has just given regular, non-emergency approval to the Novavax COVID vaccine — which has been in use under an emergency authorization for years. Against the advice of its own scientific advisors, the agency decided to restrict the use of the vaccine to people over the age of 65, … Continued
