Healthy You

The city that was once the epicenter of the pandemic is back.  New York City has reopened. Dr. Oxiris Barbot, the New York City health commissioner who led the city at the onset of Covid-19 joins us to share a cautionary tale of the city she knows and loves. 

On today's Healthy You Podcast, we celebrate the start of summer with some timely information about vaccinating your kids against Covid-19.  Today we ask is it possible to travel this summer when your kids are too young to be vaccinated?  Can you send your kids to summer camp? Today we find some answers with Dr. Peter Hotez, the dean of the National School of  Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and the Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. 

The pandemic has shined a spotlight on so many disparities in public health, but few more so than in maternal and infant mortality. This week, Frank speaks to William Moore, lactation expert and the first certified male doula in the state of Minnesota, about how the pandemic has affected the birthing process and what steps we can take to bridge the gap and create a more equitable health system.  

In March of 2020, we couldn't imagine how serious the pandemic would be, and over a year later, we reflect on the toll it's had - in terms of experiences, jobs, and most importantly, lives lost. In dedication to those who have lost their lives to the coronavirus, this episode features the very personal story of Amber and her mom, Marilyn – a story of loss, resilience, and remembrance. 

When it comes to vaccine hesitancy among Trump voters, can minds be changed? In this episode, Dr. Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, and Frank Luntz, renowned political pollster and communicator, discuss how messaging around the pandemic has contributed to the polarization of the COVID vaccine, and how changing how we communicate can change the minds of those who refuse to get the vaccine to unbelievable effect.

Marking the one-year anniversary of the podcast, we are excited to announce new partnerships with the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the de Beaumont Foundation. In this episode, Frank speaks with Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of APHA, sharing reflections on this past year of the pandemic and what is in store for the future of the podcast.

Hosted by Frank Sesno, Healthy You: Surviving a Pandemic is a co-production of the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and the School of Media and Public Affairs in association with the American Public Health Association and the de Beaumont Foundation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has the United States emergency healthcare workforce underwater. An average ICU physician will normally see eight patients per shift, but because of the pandemic, we are seeing doctors having to care for over twenty. In this episode, Dr. Patricia Pittman, the Fitzhugh Mullan Professor of Health Workforce Equity at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, joins Frank to discuss her research into the dire shortages of healthcare workers and how those shortages have pushed hospitals and workers to the limit. 

With states reopening and lifting mask mandates, workers are at increased risk of exposure to COVID-19. Is it too soon to lift the mask mandates and how do workers protect themselves when employers won't? In this episode, Frank speaks with Dr. David Michaels, professor at GWSPH and former assistant secretary of OSHA, about actions the government and employers can take to protect workers and help turn the tide of the pandemic.  

People are going to great lengths to get the COVID-19 vaccine shot. They are going online the instant a website opens, waiting outside pharmacies for hours, and even making appointments in other states. But while national attention is on the COVID vaccine, the use of other vaccines is dropping in the US and around the world, posing new threats to public health. In this episode, Frank speaks with pediatrician and vaccine expert Dr. William Moss about the different COVID-19 vaccines and how the neglect of other vaccines could lead to the next big public health crisis. 

New variant strains of the COVID-19 virus threaten to undermine vaccination efforts and herd immunity. In response, public health experts have been sounding the alarm that COVID anywhere is COVID everywhere, and to beat the virus in the US, we need to beat the virus around the world. In this episode, Frank speaks with epidemiologist and vaccinologist Dr. Jon Andrus about the challenges in dealing with the new COVID variants and how vaccine diplomacy can help or spell disaster for global vaccination efforts.