Paul A. Offit, MD, an expert on infectious diseases & vaccinology and member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory, committee chats with Trey Elling about YOU BET YOUR LIFE: FROM BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS TO MASS VACCINATION, THE LONG AND RISKY HISTORY OF MEDICAL INNOVATION. Questions include:
- Did any ethical issues arrive with human-to-human heart transplants before ‘brain death’ was defined? (03:12)
- Why did blood transfusions disappear after several were performed in the mid-1600s? (05:58)
- How did the rise of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s impact blood transfusions? (08:08)
- Why was nationalism a hindrance to anesthesia in its early days? (10:14)
- Regarding antibiotics, what was the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster of 1937? (14:35)
- When examining the history of vaccines, why did he focus on the polio vaccine? (17:25)
- What are x-rays? (28:55)
- What does mustard gas have to do with the advent of chemotherapy? (31:05)
- Does the general public need a COVID vaccine booster six months after receiving their initial shots? (39:07)
- How should those with immunity acquired from previous infection be looked at? (41:55)