#32: SARS-CoV-2 Variants, Vaccination, and Overcoming the Pandemic

Thinking Critically

In this episode, Patrick is speaking with Bettina Schneider about overcoming the pandemic. They discuss: •The current state of the pandemic. •The safety and effectiveness of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. •The new SARS-CoV-2 variants, their increased infectivity, and what that means when it comes to controlling the pandemic. •Misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, and how to encourage the public to get the new vaccine. •The Astrazeneca vaccine debacle. •How public health precautions still need to be adhered to even after you receive the vaccine. •The protective differences between mask types and why it's so important that the public mask up. •And other topics. Bettina Schneider, MPH, is a PHI/CDC Global Health Epidemiology Fellow working with CDC South Africa within the Prevention Branch of the Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis (DGHT). She holds a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the New York University School of Global Public Health where she graduated spring of this year. Prior international experience includes academic collaboration in Beirut, Lebanon with UNICEF and American University of Beirut to increase measles immunization coverage and cholera prevention efforts in Syrian UNIDP refugee camps during spring of 2019. During January of 2020, she collaborated with NYU Shanghai in Shanghai, China researching the affects of climate change on communicable respiratory illness. Bettina is familiar with working in the public sector of public health. She has previously worked for the Minnesota Department of Health in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control (IDEPC) Division with a primary focus on zoonotic surveillance. More recently, she has worked for New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the Bureau of Communicable Disease with the surveillance of critical threat antimicrobial-resistance, where she conducted a city-wide surveillance evaluation of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections. You can connect with Bettina on her social media here: TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJ9GNhmQ/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Be_Sc_Ience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bettina-schneider/ You can find this episode on our YouTube channel as well: https://bit.ly/3umFtZW This show is supported and produced by Final Stretch Media. Final Stretch believes in creating something that disrupts attention spans and challenges the marketing status quo. They do this by creating high quality visual content that captivates your audience. You can find them on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fsmedia2020 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/finalstretch_media/ This show is also supported by QuikLee; the creators of Brain Racers. The world's first ever live racing competition for the brain. Download their app and play live on the weekends on an iOS device against the world. We have raced and it's a blast! App Download: https://apple.co/33n8aJs Our last sponsor creates survival technology as well as camping and other outdoor gear. Outer Wild's ultimate goal is to provide clean technologies for everyday devices as they are driven to create a more sustainable world. Use the code IS on your next purchase and receive an additional 10% off! Website: https://www.outer-wild.com/