Episode 181: Public Health Policy Is Political

Osterholm Update

CIDRAP

Science

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2025

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In "Public Health Policy is Political," Chris Dall and Dr. Osterholm discuss the ongoing measles outbreak, the latest round of job cuts in the public health workforce, and new studies on long-COVID. Dr. Osterholm also reviews the latest vaccine news for Novavax, seasonal influenza, and H5N1. <a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/studies-1-7-us-working-age-adults-report-long-covid-heaviest-burden-poor">Studies: 1 in 7 US working-age adults report long COVID, with heaviest burden on the poor</a> (CIDRAP) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/well/covid-long-term-health-damage.html">A Clearer Picture of Covid’s Lasting Effects on the Body</a> (NYT, paywall) <a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/osterholm-update-covid-19">MORE EPISODES</a>       <a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/support-cidrap">SUPPORT THIS PODCAST</a>

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Osterholm Update, a podcast on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases with Dr. Michael Osterholm.
0:15.4	Dr. Ostrome is an internationally recognized medical detective and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, or CIDRAP, at the University of Minnesota. In this podcast, Dr. O. Strom
0:26.9	draws on nearly 50 years of experience investigating infectious disease outbreaks to provide
0:31.8	straight talk on the latest infectious disease and public health threats. I'm Chris Dahl,
0:37.2	reporter for CidWap News, and I'm your host for these conversations.
0:44.1	Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Ostrome Update podcast.
0:48.4	On April 6th, health officials in Texas announced the death of a second child in the state's
0:53.9	ongoing measles outbreak,
0:55.4	which has now surpassed more than 550 cases.
0:58.7	Both of the children who died were unvaccinated.
1:01.7	The Texas measles outbreak is the largest in the country right now, but it's not the only one.
1:06.0	And at the current rate, the United States appears to be on pace to surpass the 1,274 measles
1:12.4	cases reported in 2019. Meanwhile, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert
1:18.4	F. Kennedy Jr. continues to make contradictory statements about the outbreak and about the
1:23.7	measles' mumps and rebella vaccine. On April 6th, he said in a post on the social media
1:28.5	site X that the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,
1:33.5	and in a later interview with CBS News said people should get the vaccine. But in that same
1:38.8	interview, he suggested the death of the eight-year-old girl may not have been caused by measles
1:43.6	and continue to question the safety of vaccines. Inyear-old girl may not have been caused by measles and continue to question
1:45.1	the safety of vaccines. In an interview with Fox News, he said there should be more focus on finding
1:50.6	better treatments for measles and, quote, not just saying the only answer is vaccination.
1:55.7	The ongoing measles outbreak is just one of the topics we'll be covering on this April 17th episode
	...

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