Osterholm Update

CDC Cuts: Understaffed and Overwhelmed

Since January 2025, the CDC has lost nearly a third of its staff under the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This drastic reduction

The Current State of Measles

Before 2025, we didn't spend too much time talking about measles on this podcast, and that's because there wasn't much of a need to. But ever since the measles outbreak i

Making Sense of Measles Misinformation

This past August, Pennsylvania announced two measles-associated deaths in unvaccinated residents, marking the first measles deaths in the state in thirty-five years. This

Back to School: What You Need to Know

 As summer comes to a close, another chapter begins: back to school. But with that comes a lot of different public health challenges and some muddled guidance for parents

Answering Your Questions: The Executive Order & More!

It’s been a whirlwind week of public health news from Washington, but hosts Chris Dall and Dr. Michael Osterholm are here to make sense of it all. This week they answer y

Cyclospora: Then and Now

Cyclospora cases continue to climb in the U.S. but this isn’t the first time we’ve had a multi-state outbreak linked to produce. Back in 1996, there was a major cyclospor

Cyclospora, Ticks, and Mosquitoes: Summertime Threats

We all look forward to summer, that time of year when we can spend more time outside and less time worrying about things like colds and flu. However, the warm summer mont

Episode 212: Major Roadblocks

As the Ebola crisis continues to escalate in the DRC, we must ask: what will it take to end this outbreak? This is one of many questions Chris Dall and Dr. Michael Osterh

Episode 211: A System Held With Duct Tape

This week, Chris Dall and Dr. Michael Osterholm bring the latest on the Ebola outbreak in the DRC, what the World Cup means from a public health perspective, as well as e

Episode 210: Ebola: What the Past Tells Us about the Present

This week on the Osterholm Update, Dr. Michael Osterholm and Chris Dall focus on the developing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, discussing the U.S. re

Episode 209: Awareness vs. Alarm: Making Sense of the Headlines

In Episode 209, Dr. Michael Osterholm and Chris Dall talk through the response to the hantavirus outbreak and the lingering questions about how the virus spreads. They al

Episode 208: Bad News, Good News

This week on the Osterholm Update, Chris Dall and Dr. Osterholm dissect the latest results of Paxlovid trials and what they tell us about COVID-19. They'll also discuss a

Episode 207: Asking the Right Questions

This week Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall talk about Erica Schwartz, the Trump's administration's most recent nomination for the CDC Director, as well as  changes to the cha

Episode 206: What we know about long COVID

This week Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall focus on long COVID, tackling some listener questions and providing context about what long COVID is, its potential risks, as well

Episode 205: Disease Waits for No One

In "Disease Waits for No One," Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss how a federal judge temporarily blocked Health Secretary RFK Jr's rollback of childhood vaccine r

Episode 204: Holding the Tools

In "Holding the Tools" Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall dive into the latest COVID, flu and RSV activity, discuss the surge in norovirus cases, and provide an update on measl

Episode 203: Somebody to Lean On

In "Somebody to Lean On," Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss vaccine updates including the FDA’s back-and-forth on the Moderna vaccine, leadership shake-ups at institut

Episode 202: The Bells Still Ring

In "The Bells Still Ring," Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss a recent poll on Americans’ trust in vaccine information from the CDC, the measles outbreaks in immigratio

Episode 201: The Twilight Zone of Immunization

In "The Twilight Zone of Immunization," Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss recent comments from CDC officials about measles, the US withdrawal from the WHO, and the lat

Episode 200: A Moment Among Moments

In the 200th episode of the Osterholm Update, Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss recent changes to the childhood immunization schedule, the latest data on this year's i