The Science of Beating Variants

The Science of Beating Variants

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What Closing Schools Has Done to Kids

This month marks the one-year anniversary in the U.S. of nationwide school closures. The public health measure was designed to help stem the spread of Covid-19. But in doing so, it’s had a profound effect on children. That’s in contrast to the disease itself, which rarely makes y ...  Show more

Doubt: Rumor Has It

In the series premiere of "Doubt," we meet Jon, a New York City paramedic struggling to decide whether he should get vaccinated. Bloomberg health reporter Kristen V. Brown shows how the pandemic has led many people like him to question vaccines for the first time — and how this d ...  Show more

Recommended Episodes

Identifying a more infectious HIV variant
Unexpected Elements

We’re 40 years into the AIDS pandemic, and even with massive public health campaigns, still, 1 ½ million become infected with HIV each year; about half that number die of its ravages. And a study just out shows that this well-understood virus can still take on more worrying forms ...  Show more

What We Know (And Don't Know) About The Omicron Variant
Consider This from NPR

The World Health Organization is warning that the omicron variant of the coronavirus, which was first detected in South Africa, has a "very high" global risk because of the possibility that it spreads more easily and might resist vaccines and immunity in people who were infected ...  Show more

Coronavirus - new variants
BBC Inside Science

The virus which causes Covid 19 is continuing to evolve, but into several different closely related strains rather than more new variants such as Delta and Omicron. Ravi Gupta, Professor of Clinical Microbiology at Cambridge university gives us his assessment of the current pictu ...  Show more

Effect of pain medication on immunity; impact of the Budget on GPs and healthcare; importance of planning global vaccination
Health Report - Full program podcast

A review of multiple studies on common painkillers found that they have a marked effect on our resistance to infection—which is sometimes bad and sometimes good. Some of these medications could also reduce our response to a vaccination—especially if taken straight before one. Doc ...  Show more