The Politics of Pandemics

It was supposed to be the shot that took over the world. Russia's Sputnik vaccine was registered earlier than almost all other competitors, and Moscow was one of the first cities to have a vaccination campaign. Yet Sputnik is now lagging behind in the vaccination markets, with a low takeup rate within Russia and most countries not prioritizing Sputnik. The war in Ukraine has further dampened the prospects of the vaccine on the international politics. This is despite Sputnik being comparable in efficacy and safety with other similar shots. Is it a victim of international politics or of Russia's own disinformation campaign? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uBS21Jcyld6CydqwL2vTZwa2x5uri9jS2wRBKFi1uAE/edit?usp=sharing

In 2021, Rosstat, the official statistics agency of Russia, announced that the country’s natural population, minus migration, declined by more than a million people. The main reason, unsurprisingly, is the COVID-19 pandemic. With nearly one million excess deaths over the past two years, the statistics show just the severe impact of the past two years of the coronavirus pandemic on the Russian people, as well as how much the Russian government has obscured their failure to manage the crisis. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wNLT6pOOdE3o1CPTy7aGD-0Untc54ZEe91_Kg6HMIaE/edit?usp=sharing

In 1979, a secretive lab in the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk accidentally released anthrax into the morning air, killing at least 67 people and countless other animals. The problem is, the Soviet Union was not supposed to have this anthrax. This was the single worst biological leak ever, one that almost exposed the Soviet's illegal biological weapons program. It was just bad meat from private butchers, the authorities claimed. It was not until 1992 onwards that the truth about the lab and the Russian biological weapons program would slowly leak out. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JDfwEiPdagop44-2Mehheu86JAh7vC7iEGy90_mKg3Q/edit?usp=sharing

Smallpox is a horrific disease, we know that. With its high mortality rate, permanent disfigurement, and endemic status in just about every country up to the 20th century, it is no wonder the disease was the first on the list to be eliminated globally. And central to that effort from the very start was Russia, from the Empire into the Soviet Union. We’ll explore the history of smallpox from Catherine The Great’s early attempt at inoculation against the deadly disease, to the USSR’s work in eliminating smallpox, how they managed foreign outbreaks, and the status of smallpox in Russia today. This is the story of a Tsarina who took a risk, an unprecedented cooperative effort between Cold War enemies, and the last notable outbreaks of smallpox in the Soviet Union. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RdaabF8F9M0DO2jIZQ7nc6nNhaNgnJaYUT8CmPd5PXI/edit?usp=sharing

The late 19th century brought in dramatic improvements in travel and communication. Now one can hear about news from across the European continent instantly, and travel hundreds of kilometers in a few days. And as the speed of travel increased, so did the speed of the spread of disease. We look at the 1890 flu pandemic, the so-called "Russian flu" or "Asiatic flu". Known as the first modern or first media epidemic, it spread faster than previous outbreaks, spreading around the world in just under a year. And thanks to the new global newspaper industry, the reactions to it were strikingly different than before. And yet, the similarities between the outbreaks of 1890 and 2020 are so similar, that some people are wondering if the answers to our current predicament can be found in this long forgotten outbreak. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sbjk7RtMf_b2jkSLSpD1pieYg0NeV1ssBNI60zMF4PQ/edit?usp=sharing

Trying something different. This is the start of a season where I look at Russia's historical relationship with diseases and outbreaks. Starting with Russia's track record of plague, from the black death to the 20th century. How the old Tsars managed outbreaks through quarantine, how the people sometimes rebelled, and the systems that the last Tsars and the Soviets set up in an attempt to rid themselves of plague forever. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CGdqd7o1P92ZwynvIZN6_UPQfd3xaQOmX_SFW1UeeCg/edit?usp=sharing 

You may have heard about Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele if you’re very online, because he seems like what happens if a crypto-bro becomes president of a country. He is famous for making Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador, as well as cultivating an image both domestically and internationally of a millennial, modern president who uses Twitter as well as Elon Musk to create a loyal following. But his clean-cut image hides the stark reality of El Salvador and the president intending to be its dictator, of its democratic institutions falling to a populist, to overcrowded prisons and gang-controlled areas. The pandemic is just part of the story, but it allowed Bukele to truly solidify his reputation and his tactics of turning into The World's Coolest Dictator. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ebLiOlmFux-870OUarK6b5TCLegW0lMZasQYDn7mmcw/edit?usp=sharing

Something a little different. We look at the fake news and conspiracies that Nigerians may have been inundated with during the pandemic, how distrust in their government breeds fertile ground for conspiracy theories, and how new media channels and older religious cultures work together to spread these ideas across Nigeria and the rest of Central Africa. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mo2J21-Tys0338v5KStwqC4XWrhRN36ZTkOUJFOHUe0/edit?usp=sharing

When the Delta variant exploded in India in April 2021, many international observers were quick to point the finger at Prime Minister Nahendra Modi and his ruling party the BJP. Part of it is the general acknowledgment that the leader of a country is responsible when a disaster response fails so spectacularly. With the benefit of hindsight, we can now better examine what Prime Minister Nahendra Modi’s government and other local authorities did right, what they did wrong, and what they chose not to do at all. And, due to extensive corruption and incompetence, what we still don’t know about that period in time. We also touch on Vaccine Maitri, India's attempt at vaccine diplomacy, and how it took a hit when India's domestic woes overshadowed it's ambition on the world stage. https://docs.google.com/document/d/18xuaGaFRzkXzZLRtLalsyKZEHn2HZRmtPrwup6791vg/edit?usp=sharing

They were the images that defined the deadly Delta wave for India in early 2021. Hundreds of funeral pyres, burning nonstop for days and weeks on end. There were so many them, the ashes of those lost choking the air, that Indians were forced to burn their dead in the parking lot outside the traditional areas. And still, dozens more waited outside to cremate their dead relatives. There were so many cremations that wood was running out. We talk about India's Delta Disaster, what led to it, why didn't the government shut down, and how bad it got. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gBnCaXgXJLmJIP2G3ZlwoCnJ-BlyUDEOVNA4MjEq214/edit?usp=sharing

Turkmenistan has been compared frequently to North Korea in terms of its lack of press freedom and cult of personality around their leader, President Gurbenguly Berdimukhamedov. He built his reputation on making the gas-rich country prosperous, happy, and free of COVID. According to the government there has not been a single case in the country until today. So why did they ask their people to weak masks and socially distance anyway? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WIMr9A-TCZ699kEnwZ0GcIu73fc83_BSCyn1T_Eo_m4/edit?usp=sharing

Thailand was supposed to have 91% of its vaccines manufactured by the company Siam Bioscience, a company owned by the King himself. An opposition leader criticized the company and the government for the vaccine contract Siam Bioscience made with Astrazeneca as well as the overreliance and slowness of the vaccine rollout. For that, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit was charged for insulting the monarchy, a charge that carries decades in jail. But was he right, or was he being overzealous in his criticisms? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e0LNPSss1AEo3xCqtmkyzJsacC57LDKxTqXbWtaYOsk/edit?usp=sharing

Over 30 million confirmed cases, and over 662 thousand deaths as of April 25, 2022. The cost of the pandemic has been extremely high in Brazil, as we have explored in the past 3 episodes. Today, we close this series on the infamous Jair Bolsonaro, the man who, through his denialism and inaction, is a major reason for the rough two years his country had gone through. This covers the CPI, or Senate investigation into the response, and how the election would affect Bolsonaro's reeelection. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rr59u-atMj65mTnlGKvwaKqloiamDDJAWT0oZCaQcfE/edit?usp=sharing

Outside of the American president Trump, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is probably the most famous denialist president during the pandemic. Brash, authoritarian, and misogynist, he treated mitigation measures like masks and social distancing as an affront to his agenda and himself. In this first of three parts, we examine the man's history, how he managed to get elected, and how he and the country reacted when COVID first hit. https://docs.google.com/document/d/10FmhIzw3UOh_2H98qAxyqHNc2Vd4Q9-qae72-DbA-cA/edit?usp=sharing

The Philippines has been unlucky with disasters in the past few years, and COVID is no exception. Not only did they have among the worst infectivity and death rates in Southeast Asia, the Philippines also had to deal with typhoons, corruption, and distrust. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1quBwRvuNqXoQ8qzyk419_BgRiaPbqVdvU52McrTudZ0/edit?usp=sharing

In the Philippines, a botched vaccine rollout for dengue destroyed confidence in all vaccines when it was suspected that it make dengue worse for some people, not safer. And then, the worldwide measles pandemic in 2019 occurred. We explore how the political scandal surrounding Dengvaxia affected the country's fight measles and other diseases. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IxHbBf6lx5Z9O8bNQWVxXobj6-t8vjWtBr71HzmWeB0/edit?usp=sharing

At least 83 children died in Samoa in 2019 as a result of a devastating measles epidemic there. While the reason of the severity of the outbreak can be attributed to a tragic mistake shaking the nation's faith in vaccines, the crisis was exacerbated by influencers and anti-vaccine advocates who turned the Polynesian island nation into a battleground between public health officials and their baseless beliefs. Sources:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kzni-4ikQw0GWn7Wb0-7HnPacXm2012PwlD-UXKyRqk/edit?usp=sharing

This week we finish the story of Robert F Kennedy, connecting his Deadly Immunity Days to when he was comparing the COVID vaccines to a holocaust. In between we continue to discuss the slow buildup of skepticism amongst small but significant communities within the United States, eventually leading to multiple measles outbreaks in 2019. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q0lmaI8lmr629QxsLuDm4JokVixlFcqgd8ylRVkDJ_k/edit?usp=sharing

In 2001, the US government and pharmaceutical companies phased out thimerosal from the vaccines. What was a precautionary measure became the seed of a coverup accusation and start of an industry bent of spreading disinformation about all vaccines. Focusing on several people who popularized the "vaccines cause autism" meme, we lay the groundwork for the damage that they would do in the following episode of the podcast. https://docs.google.com/document/d/12hCVSKZCkDOUp8u9bg-qAVRNtnZvPz0XtYKxOfGSm3U/edit?usp=sharing

This episode we track the downfall of Andrew Wakefield in the UK as his scheme is exposed by journalist Brian Deer. However as he becomes a pariah there, Wakefield finds a new audience in the United States, finding new friends and a renewed purpose. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RYVDR9LmOzIkihjCFQJKMcrTpJKAQeLIn2Rz2i3A698/edit?usp=sharing