200 - The Logistics and Ethics of Distributing COVID-19 Vaccines
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 12 November 2020
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We're closer to safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines, but what will the actual rollout look like? Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a bioethicist and health policy expert recently appointed to President-elect Joe Biden's coronavirus task force, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the challenges in distributing a vaccine in the US. They discuss which groups might get access first, logistical challenges including cold chain and glass supply concerns, and the steps needed between concluding clinical trials and actually distributing a vaccine. They also talk about the formidable efforts that will be needed to advocate for getting vaccinated which could include a massive campaign with endorsements from trusted celebrities and thought leaders.
KEYWORDS: supply chain; health communication; vaccine approval
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Season 2 of Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins |
| 0:11.6 | Bloomberg School of Public Health. |
| 0:13.6 | I'm Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement, |
| 0:18.8 | and a former secretary of Maryland's Health Department. |
| 0:21.8 | Our goal is to bring scientific evidence and experience to the public health news of the day |
| 0:27.3 | through informative interviews with scientists, community leaders, policy experts, public |
| 0:32.5 | health officials, clinicians, and more. If you have ideas or questions for us to cover, please email us at |
| 0:39.8 | Public Health Question at jhhhu.edu. That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast |
| 0:47.8 | episodes. Today, Stephanie Desmond talks to Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a leading bioethicist and vice provost at the University of Pennsylvania, about the ethics and the logistics of distributing a COVID-19 vaccine. |
| 1:02.1 | This week, Dr. Emanuel was appointed to President-elect Joe Biden's coronavirus task force. Let's listen. |
| 1:09.0 | Zeke Emanuel, thank you so much for joining me. |
| 1:11.2 | My pleasure. Good to be here. |
| 1:13.1 | So today we're going to talk about the distribution of COVID vaccines. |
| 1:17.5 | Of course, once we get an approved COVID vaccine, I'd like to ask you first about who will be |
| 1:25.2 | getting it and how it will be distributed. But let's start with who. Well, we don't know, |
| 1:31.7 | is the short answer. At least at this point, the bodies that control it haven't made a final |
| 1:38.0 | decision. We do have some recommendations from the National Academies and other groups around. |
| 1:44.6 | But the official word, as it were, has not been determined. |
| 1:49.9 | But the National Academy has suggested that we start off the list in 1A with frontline health care workers, |
| 1:56.7 | other first responders, and then we move down the list in terms of vulnerability. |
| 2:03.7 | I know you're an ethicist. So talk to me about where you think that we should be |
| 2:09.2 | distributing the vaccines, to whom we should be distributing. Well, I do think that our primary focus |
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