Why a data-driven, holistic, and nuanced approach to our COVID-19 response is long overdue. Vinay Prasad MD MPH is a practicing hematologist-oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. He studies cancer drugs, health policy, and clinical trials and better decision making and hosts the Plenary Session podcast. In this encore podcast we talk about the first presidential debate and the foibles thereof, the goals of healthcare reform and single payer upside vs. downside, why soundbite news and social media culture has failed us, why data and being able to change our minds matters, the dangers of ideological purity and not thinking for ourselves, mask mandates, weighing the life years saved in different covid response scenarios, why it’s imperative that we figure out how to open schools ASAP, social equity and our COVID response, safetyism and safety “creep,” the counterproductive role of the elite Zoomocracy during the pandemic, and much more. Video, transcript, and links: https://zdoggmd.com/vinay-prasad-3/ Support the show without supporting social media conglomerates: paypal.me/zdoggmd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices