It’s SpOokY season, and Olivia and Ariel are digging into VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, where one doctor reported turning into the Hulk after his flu shot (and the report was accepted). Olivia explains VAERS as a smoke detector that beeps at both fires (proven vaccine injuries) and burnt toast (lots of unverified reports). She covers where VAERS came from, the real safety signals it has caught, and why raw reports are so easy to misread and easily fearmongered. Then they unpack HHS’s new push to pay doctors for reports, add a VAERS app and QR code, and expand the vaccine injury table, and what all that could set up. Olivia closes with what you should do the next time a scary VAERS number shows up in your group chat.

This episode’s good news is Philly Joy Bank, a no-strings-attached cash program for pregnant mothers in Philadelphia. Also, stick around for Ariel on the HYROX athlete who kept competing through a GI emergency (ew), plus a good ol' list of recalls.

Other Links for This Episode:

• DON'T FORGET TO VOTE! Find your local polling place.
• Measles Counts (thx RFK Jr.)
• Find all recent recalls at: https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts

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The views expressed on this episode are our own.

We are available by email at publichealthgroupchat@gmail.com and on Instagram and TikTok at @publichealthgroupchat.

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In this episode, Ariel and Mattie discuss Elon Musk, wealth inequality, and his disastrous influence on public health. Tune in to learn about Musk’s bio, businesses, and his role in the second Trump Administration. Earlier this year, Musk became the world’s first trillionaire after already existing as the wealthiest individual on planet Earth. Billionaires should not exist, and trillionaires are even worse. Wealth inequality is bad for health, and the US ranks high in wealth inequity.

In addition to wealth inequality, we cover the elimination of dog to human rabies transmission in Chile and Taylor Swift. Because why not, when we’re already talking about excessive wealth?

See the most recent recalls here: https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Want to support PHGC?

• Subscribe to our Patreon for monthly bonus episodes
• Donate as a supporter
• Snag some PHGC merch
• Give us a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share this episode with a friend!

---

The views expressed on this episode are our own.

We are available by email at publichealthgroupchat@gmail.com and on Instagram and TikTok at @publichealthgroupchat.

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Part two of our Reagan deep-dive picks up where we left off, with Mattie walking us through more of the Reagan Administration decisions that are still shaping public health today: the War on Drugs and the punitive framework it built that we're still dismantling, the roots of the modern homelessness crisis, and the mental health policy choices that gutted the safety net for people who needed it most. If you loved Part One, you're going to love this one too.

Also this week: Colorado's extended public health order making the COVID-19 shot available to everyone 6 months and up without a prescription, and new polling showing just how far trust in government information has fallen — and not just on public health.

Find all recent recalls at: https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Want to support PHGC?

• Subscribe to our Patreon for monthly bonus episodes
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• Give us a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share this episode with a friend!

---

The views expressed on this episode are our own.

We are available by email at publichealthgroupchat@gmail.com and on Instagram and TikTok at @publichealthgroupchat.

Theme music generated in Soundful.