PODCAST-19: FiveThirtyEight on the Novel Coronavirus

Pandemics Don't Really End

But podcasts about them do. We're sad to report this is the final episode of PODCAST-19! It's been so rewarding making a show for you over the past year. In this episode,

How The CDC's Blindspots Complicated The Fight Against COVID-19

The CDC wants to be certain, so it typically waits for a critical mass of scientific evidence before making declarative statements. That takes time. Yet the communication

The Lab Leak Commotion

We have no hard evidence to support the idea that the novel coronavirus was leaked from a lab, let alone a smoking gun to validate that hypothesis. But despite pushback o

Who Should Decide Who Gets To Make COVID-19 Vaccines?

There's a worldwide shortage of vaccines but plenty of factories standing by to make them. Why is there such a gap between what we need and what we can make? On this week

How To Make Sure Your Kid Isn't A Superspreader

Kids can't get a COVID-19 vaccination yet, but they're unlikely to develop serious complications from the disease. But they can still be vectors to spread COVID-19 to oth

You Might Have Given The Coronavirus To Your Cat

We've learned time and again that animals can give diseases to humans. We've seen this happen with coronaviruses, the flu, Ebola -- basically most major disease outbreaks

What A Donated Vaccine Can Do

The United States has a surplus of COVID-19 vaccines — more than enough to vaccinate every adult. Poor countries, however, are still struggling to secure doses. Should th

The Johnson & Johnson Pause Shows The System Is Working

Federal health agencies asked states to pause in their use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while U.S. officials investigate reports of an extremely rare blood-clotting s

What The Heck Is Going On With AstraZeneca's Vaccine?

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been hailed as the world's vaccine -- it's inexpensive to produce and doesn't need super-cold storage like the mRNA vaccines do. But

How To Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy

At some point, the U.S. is going to run out of people eager to get the vaccine, and we'll need to work hard to convert those who are still hesitant or don't know how to g

The COVID-19 Endemic

On this week's show, we discuss what the endgame of the pandemic will be. It likely isn't herd immunity. And if herd immunity isn't the goal, does that change how people

How Variants Complicate Everything

Coronavirus mutations have complicated our path forward. But that doesn't mean that our current plan out of the pandemic is futile.

The Ethical Dilemmas Prompted By The Vaccine Rollout

Should you take a leftover vaccine? Should you pass up a vaccine if you think you don't need it as much as someone else does? We talk to bioethicists to get their answers

What Happens Once You Get An mRNA Vaccine

Anna talks with Dr. Margaret Liu, one of the pioneers of gene-based vaccines, about vaccines that use mRNA to help us build immunity to COVID-19, including the Pfizer-Bio

Answering All (Or At Least Some) Of Your Vaccine Questions

There are so many questions about a COVID-19 vaccine that we didn't know where to begin. So we began with you! We took to the mailbag to find answers on vaccine availabil

The Dr. Fauci Holiday Special

On the first day of Christmas, PODCAST-19 gave to me ... an interview with Dr. Fauci. Dr. Anthony Fauci stops by the pod to talk about post-vaccine life, the new varian

Why Emily Oster Made Her Own COVID-19 Database

Data has been such a valuable commodity during the pandemic. Unfortunately, at times data has been in short supply, because US government agencies haven't always undertak

How To Trust That A COVID-19 Vaccine Is Safe

It feels like a cure for this pandemic may be in sight. But for many people, injecting a brand-new scientific discovery into their body won't sit well. So, how are scient

There's No Longterm Plan For Long COVID

Our producer, Sinduja Srinivasan, reports on long COVID, and how our health care system might cope with so many patients with ongoing symptoms.

What To Make Of Pfizer's Big Vaccine Announcement

This week, Pfizer announced that its coronavirus vaccine may be more than 90 percent effective. Anna and FiveThirtyEight's senior science writer, Maggie Koerth, discuss w