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: The FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) has had its meetings suspended indefinitely under the Trump presidency. (Normally, it would be meeting about this time issue advices on what variants of influenza and COVID to target with next round of vaccine manufacturing) The FDA’s Advisory Committee on Immunization … Continued
Discussed in this episode: The measles outbreak centered in the Texas panhandle has now likely produced three deaths (two confirmed, one still under investigation). That’s as many measles deaths as the US saw in the preceding 24 years, combined. The high death count suggests there may be significant unreported measles in circulation (normally measles in … Continued
Discussed in this episode: A new subvariant detected in South Africa — BA.3.2 — shows more new mutations on the spike protein than any variant since the advent of Omicron variant, which drove a global surge in illness starting in late 2021. Donald Trump has withdrawn his nomination of physician, vaccine critic, and former republican … Continued
Discussed in this episode: This week marks the fifth anniversary of the first COVID shelter-in-place orders in the United States. The measles outbreak in West Texas has now infected 198 people, sent 23 to the hospital, and killed one child. To send us a question in advance of next week’s show, write to: coronacalls@kpfa.org Tune in … Continued
Discussed in this episode: An outbreak centered in West Texas has just produced the first measles death in the United States in 5 years. The Trump administration cancelled a meeting of a committee that had been scheduled to advise the FDA on the makeup of next year’s flu vaccine. Now it will have to rely … Continued
Discussed in this episode: For the first time since 2019, deaths from influenza have outpaced deaths from COVID. Amidst mass-firings of public workers at federal public health agencies, the Department of Health and Human Services has indefinitely postponed the meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that had been scheduled for this week … Continued
Discussed in this episode: A strain of bird flu not previously detected in cattle has been found in dairy herds in Nevada. It’s the same strain responsible for putting teen on life support for 6 weeks in British Columbia, and killing a man in Louisiana. Data that appeared without comment in a weekly CDC report, … Continued
Discussed in this episode: RFK Jr went through some extreme verbal contortions during two days of confirmation hearings to be Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. Under orders from the Trump Whitehouse, the CDC’s web page is starting to be purged of data and materials important to public health. Donald Trumps’s attempt to … Continued
To send us a question in advance of next week’s show, write to: coronacalls@kpfa.org Tune in live Monday mornings at 7:30am Pacific at kpfa.org. Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Discussed in this episode: H5N1 Avian Influenza has produced its first human death in the US. This was a different strain (D1.1) from what’s moving through dairy herds (B3.13). The victim is believed to have contracted the virus directly from bird flocks he kept in his yard. Virus samples from the victim showed genetic changes … Continued
