Since their invention, vaccines have saved billions of people. And they should save a lot more in the coming months and years. As the world’s population waits for a full immunization to resume life before the pandemic, Folha introduces Immune Response, a podcast on how vaccines have changed the world.
Starting this Wednesday (25), science reporter Reinaldo José Lopes will tell in weekly episodes the story of this powerful tool for saving lives and also the challenges that vaccinations still face.
Reinaldo is completing a 20-year career as a science journalist this year, most of them with Folha. In 2017 he won the José Reis Award, the most important in the region in Brazil. He is also the author of 11 books including “1499: O Brasil Prior to Cabral”.
In the podcast, the journalist mixes historical references, pop culture and interviews with experts to talk in an informal and didactic way about how doses work in our bodies, the resistance of some groups to vaccinations, why some vaccines never existed and which should be their future.
“We do not want to ignore the ethical questions and uncertainties that sometimes influence the vaccination debate,” says the moderator. “It’s normal for people to have doubts and fears about a technology that they don’t understand how it works. And no technology.” is perfect. Our role is to clarify the facts as best we can, to accommodate those doubts, but also to show the importance of vaccines to any public health strategy. “
In the first episode of Immune Response, the journalist tells the story of the cow Florzinha. In her teat, lesions were the original source of the first smallpox vaccine – one of the deadliest diseases caused by a virus. In the 20th century alone, when the smallpox vaccine was around, it killed 300 million people.
Listen to the teaser:
The show will be published on the main podcast platforms on Wednesday morning. Response Immune is produced by Juliana Deodoro and the sound editing by Luan Alencar. Support comes from GSK.
Answer Immune will be part of the catalog of audio programs coordinated by Folha’s Podcasts Editor, which brings together products such as Café da Manhã, a daily news podcast in partnership with Spotify; Expresso Ilustrada, about culture; Illustrious Conversa, from interviews with non-fiction authors; and Boletim Folha, with a summary of the news in two daily editions. The list now has 16 programs.
IMMUNE REACTION
Where on the main podcast platforms
When on Wednesdays, 8 a.m.