#216 – Vincent Racaniello: Viruses and Vaccines

Vincent Racaniello is a virologist, immunologist, and microbiologist at Columbia. He is a co-author of the textbook Principles of Virology and co-host of This Week in Virology podcast. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Privacy: https://privacy.com/lex to get $5 added to your account – Justworks: https://justworks.com – Sun Basket: https://sunbasket.com/lex and use code LEX to get $35 off – The Information: https://theinformation.com/lex to get 75% off first month – Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lex and use code LEX to get 1 month of fish oil EPISODE LINKS: Vincent’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/profvrr Vincent’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/vincentracaniello Vincent’s Podcast: https://www.microbe.tv/ Vincent’s Website: http://www.virology.ws/ Vincent’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/profvrr PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (10:24) – Microbiology by numbers (15:47) – From bacteria to an organism (23:46) – AlphaFold 2 (27:44) – Simulating an evolutionary arms race (53:11) – The most terrifying virus (1:14:54) – SARS-CoV-2 (1:29:38) – Coronaviruses and Influenza. What’s the difference? (1:35:45) – Vaccines (1:41:43) – Lex on his reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine shot (1:47:39) – Modern vaccines (1:52:39) – How does mRNA vaccine work? (1:55:26) – Are mRNA vaccines safe? (2:21:52) – Lex on trust in authority (2:36:59) – Ivermectin (2:43:39) – Hydroxychloroquine (2:48:22) – Variants and mutations (2:55:20) – Testing (3:03:27) – How does COVID-19 spread? (3:06:37) – Masks (3:15:05) – Bret Weinstein vs Sam Harris (3:18:39) – This Week in Virology (3:28:19) – Advice for young people (3:30:42) – Meaning of life