EP 279 Samuel Scarpino on H5N1 (Bird Flu) and Pandemic Risk

Jim talks with epidemiology expert Samuel Scarpino about the recent spread of H5N1 in dairy cows and its implications for public health. They discuss the historical context of H5N1, fatality rates, modeling the spread, network effects in disease transmission, current surveillance efforts, H5N1 transmission mechanisms, challenges of human respiratory transmission, lessons learned & mislearned from Covid-19, the current state of the H5N1 vaccine preparation, extreme pandemic response scenarios, Sam's current risk assessment, economic impacts including egg & dairy prices, recommendations for immediate action, and much more.