vaccination – Alabama Regional Center for Infection Prevention & Control, Training and Technical Assistance (ARCIPC)

Mpox and the Monkey Pox Virus: Viral Naming and Genetic Influences

Dr. Elliot Lefkowitz joins us for a podcast to talk about Mpox, the Monkey Pox Virus, and how genetic mutations affects not only the effectiveness of viruses but how they are named and how scientists reach these conclusions.

This podcast is presented by the Alabama Regional Center for Infection Prevention and Control Training and Technical Assistance. Thank you to our co-sponsor for this podcast, the Alabama Public Health Training Network at the Alabama Department of Public Health a community-based training partner of the Region IV Public Health Training Center.

Elliot Lefkowitz, PhD
Professor, Microbiology, UAB, Executive Committee Member, International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses

The Future of COVID-19 Vaccinations

The FDA’s expert panel on vaccines met last week (Thursday, January 26, 2023) to discuss the future use of the bivalent COVID shot, signaling the start of the FDA’s pivot to a longer-term immunization strategy. This is an important first step in a process that could result in millions of Americans receiving an annual Covid booster, similar to the flu vaccine. Any such changes will require more discussion and decisions, but the FDA appears to be shifting from responding to the pandemic’s acute phase to a longer-term norm. Dr. Suzanne Judd, Director of the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy and a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, joined the podcast to discuss these topics and the future of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Suzanne Judd, PhD
Director, Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, Professor, UAB School of Public Health

Omicron’s Impact

This past week the U.S. reported a record single-day number of daily Covid cases, with more than 1 million new infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as the highly infectious omicron variant continues to spread throughout the country and beyond. The The Omicron variant continues to shatter records in the U.S. We’re learning more about the new variant, and, so far, it seems to spread faster but cause less severe illness than previous variants. There is a lot of speculation about the Omicron surge and its aftermath. To help us answer these questions, and for a look at how 2022 might unfold, we invited Dr. Suzanne Judd to join us for this podcast. Dr. Judd is the Director of the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy and a Professor in the School of Public Health at UAB.

Thank you to our co-sponsor for this podcast, the Alabama Public Health Training Network at the Alabama Department of Public Health a community-based training partner of the Region IV Public Health Training Center.

Omicron, Booster Shots – Staying Healthy in 2022

This past week the U.S. reported a record single-day number of daily Covid cases, with more than 1 million new infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as the highly infectious omicron variant continues to spread throughout the country and beyond. The U.S. also has the highest seven-day average of daily new cases in any country tracked by Johns Hopkins. Even though Omicron has only been around a short period time, it has quickly made its mark. We have invited Dr. Rachael Lee, Associate Professor in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases and UAB Health Epidemiologist, to talk about all things related to the Omicron variant.