We Need More Vaccines, Actually with Martha Rebour
It’s World Immunization Week! Aside from basic plumbing, no public health intervention has saved more lives than vaccines. But misinformation, corporatism, and disinvestment are keeping them from those who need them most. Abdul reflects on the consequences of COVID for global vaccination efforts. Then he talks to Martha Rebour, Executive Director of Shot@Life about the effort to vaccinate the world.
25 Apr 202343min
Miffed about Mifepristone with Dr. Kristyn Brandi
Access to the abortion medication mifepristone is in question after a dubious ruling from an ideological judge in Texas. Abdul lays out the dangerous implications of the ruling. Then he talks to Ob/Gyn and family planning specialist Dr. Kristyn Brandi about the mifepristone, the case, and the implications for providers like her and their patients.
18 Apr 202350min
The $hittiest Episode with Rose George
“Public health is a load of crap!” Not quite. More like, “Public health is about a load of crap!” Abdul talks about how separating the water we crap in from the water we drink is literally the foundation of public health. Then he interviews Rose George, author of “The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste” about everything having to do with $hit.
11 Apr 20231h
The Contagion of Liberty with Prof. Andrew Wehrman
“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” That’s for damn sure when it comes to vaccinations. Abdul reflects on the hypocrisy at the heart of the anti-vaxxer movement. Then he chats with Prof. Andrew Wehrman, historian and author of “The Contagion of Liberty,” about the role of smallpox inoculation in revolution-era America.
4 Apr 202359min
The Synthetic Biology Future with Michael Specter
What happens when we can program our biology like we do software in a computer? Humanity’s finding out. It means we can translate a virus’s genome into a vaccine in less than a year, like we did to create the COVID mRNA vaccines. But it also means that anyone sitting in their mom’s basement can download that genome, too. Abdul reflects on the possibilities and pitfalls, then he interviews Michael Specter, Staff Writer at The New Yorker, about his new audiobook about synthetic biology’s future, “Higher Animals.”
28 Mars 202353min
Why Are Girls Hitting Puberty Younger? with Jessica Winter
Puberty is awkward. But that’s, in part, because we continue to feed the stigma around it. Now, puberty is happening earlier for girls, a trend accelerated by the pandemic. Abdul reflects on what that means for public health. He speaks with Jessica Winter, an editor at the New Yorker, who wrote about this trend to understand why it’s happening and how we can make the experience easier.
21 Mars 202351min
The Weight Loss Wizard of Oz(empic) with Dr. Shauna Levy
Semaglutide — sold as Ozempic or Wegovy – offers nothing short of a revolution for changing body weight with a medication. With A-list celebrities racing to get their hands on them, these new treatments pose critical questions about the very nature of body weight, obesity, and their relationship to health. On the one hand, it and similar drugs offer a relatively safe, very effective way to drop body fat. On the other, to what end? Abdul sits down with Dr. Shauna Levy, an obesity medicine doctor, to talk about how semaglutide works, what it means for the patients she treats, and what it means for how we ought to think about body weight.
14 Mars 202348min
Private Equity vs. Public Health with Eileen O’Grady
Across the country, healthcare chains have been buying hospitals up like properties on a Monopoly board — changing their names and shuttering hospitals in rural communities. What’s driving this? The corporate influence on healthcare. Private equity firms with no expertise in healthcare have gotten into the game of consolidation, too, buying up clinics, healthcare companies, and community hospitals and stripping them for their parts. Abdul talks about the consequences and interviews Eileen O’Grady, a researcher and organizer who’s been on the front lines of exposing it.
7 Mars 202357min
