S2E4 / Speedboat Epidemiology

EPIDEMIC with Dr. Celine Gounder

KFF Health News and Just Human Productions

Society & Culture, #Eradication, Medicine, #Covid, Science, Life Sciences, #Sarscov2, Documentary, #Coronavirus, #Covid19, Health & Fitness, #Smallpox

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2023

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In Bangladesh, smallpox eradication workers went to great lengths to vaccinate even one person, sometimes traveling by speedboat, crossing rickety bamboo bridges or leech-infested paddy fields. Episode 4 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast is about what it takes to bring care directly to people where they are.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In the early 1970s, smallpox was still stalking parts of South Asia.
0:05.0	India had launched its eradication program more than a decade before,
0:09.0	but public health workers couldn't keep up with the virus.
0:12.0	Enter the bifurcated needle.
0:15.0	It was a marvelous invention in its simplicity.
0:19.0	It looks like a little cocktail for it.
0:21.0	You dipped the prongs into a bit of vaccine.
0:23.0	And you would just prick the skin about 12 or 15 times
0:27.0	until there was a little trace of blood.
0:30.0	And then you'd take another one.
0:32.0	It barely took 30 seconds to vaccinate someone.
0:35.0	And it didn't hurt.
0:37.0	No.
0:38.0	Well, it didn't hurt too much.
0:40.0	It was just like a pin prick,
0:42.0	rapidly done on your forearm.
0:44.0	You had a huge supply with you,
0:46.0	and you just went about and dug, dug, dug to vaccinate it people.
0:49.0	Carry hundreds with you at one go.
0:52.0	And you can train somebody in a matter of minutes to do it.
0:56.0	To use, easy to clean,
0:58.0	and a big improvement over the twisting teeth of the vaccine instrument
	...

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