Infectious Disease

Declining childhood vaccination: An interview with Michigan's top doctor

Declining childhood vaccination: An interview with Michigan's top doctor

Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan, discusses challenges related to childhood vaccinations post-COVID, emphasizing the need to rebuild trust and explore innovative solutions in a compelling interview with Michigan Public Health professor Matthew L. Boulton.

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(Re)emerging infectious diseases

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people didn’t spend as much time thinking about a news report about an emerging or reemerging disease popping up in another part of the world—or even in our own country. But now, that news feels different, more consequential. In this new era, where global media attention has turned to epidemiology and infectious disease, how do we understand our situation and feel protected when it seems like we’re hearing about so many diseases all the time?

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Evolution of a Pandemic: Where Does Delta Leave Us?

Right now, Delta is the dominant COVID-19 variant spreading here in the U.S and in some other areas of the world. It’s one of the handful of variants that have evolved from the original COVID-19 virus. The emergence of the more infectious Delta, and the prospect of new variants on the horizon, has underscored the urgency of widespread vaccination to put an end to the pandemic. In this episode, we're joined by two faculty experts from the University of Michigan who will discuss what is currently known about the Delta variant, how vaccine efforts are holding up through the Delta surge, and how it's spread is impacting our ongoing pandemic response strategies.

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One Year of COVID-19

It has been roughly one year since the COVID pandemic hit the United States, bringing with it stay-at-home orders, social distancing, masks, and many other unprecedented experiences. One side effect of the pandemic is that epidemiology is now a household name. Our first guest on this special coronavirus series, back when it all started in March 2020, was Joseph Eisenberg, professor and chair of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. We invited Eisenberg back to share some of his thoughts on how this past year played out and where he sees things going from here.

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COVID-19, Aerosols, and Ventilation

As we continue through these winter months, we find ourselves inside for longer periods of time. How can we avoid aerosolized droplets becoming a problem for disease transmission in our public buildings? We have many layers to consider for minimizing risk, but in many ways it starts with the ventilation systems in our buildings.