Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure is a podcast about a family on the fringe who convinced tens of thousands of people across the globe to buy a miracle liquid made of poison, the international conspiracy they ignited, and the people who fought to take them down. Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure is a Neon Hum Media, Bloomberg & Sony Music Entertainment production.

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Hosted by Bloomberg Opinion senior executive editor Tim O'Brien, Crash Course will bring listeners directly into the arenas where epic business and social upheavals occur. Every week, Crash Course will explore the lessons to be learned when creativity and ambition collide with competition and power -- on Wall Street and Main Street, and in Hollywood and Washington.

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The battle against humanity’s most challenging diseases is happening at the intersection of business and medicine. A new six-episode podcast called Targeting the Toughest Diseases explores how Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based biotech company, is using innovative tools, methods, and a unique philosophy to search for treatments and cures. Produced by Bloomberg Media Studios and Vertex, the podcast’s latest episode features NBA great Alonzo Mourning recounting his fight against kidney disease, and how future generations of patients may have an easier time of it. You can subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

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If you’re like many people, there’s a good chance that your weight and calorie considerations play a big role in food decisions. Intuitive eating, an Internet-famous movement all about healing people’s relationships with food, says it shouldn’t be that way. The final episode of “Losing It” explores what it means to eat intuitively, and asks the question: Does it work? 

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What if the dangers of being heavy have been overstated, or misrepresented? This new episode of the podcast series “Losing It” explores the relationship between health and weight, and the argument that we focus on the scale too much and not enough on healthy behaviors.

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Companies like WW, formerly Weight Watchers, and Noom, which makes a popular weight-loss app, have a new pitch for would-be members: that they can lose weight with a holistic lifestyle approach instead of dieting. This new episode of podcast series “Losing It” explores why the backlash against dieting is happening, how companies are getting in on the action, and whether we're actually over dieting and losing weight. 

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We all think we know the basics of weight loss. It is all about consuming fewer calories than you burn. Eat less, move more. Calories in, calories out. But there’s much more to it than these simple equations, as a trip to the enormous Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana - a hub of such research - shows. In this episode, we break down the science of why it’s so hard to lose weight, and look at what the kinds of stories heralded as a weight-loss success really look like in practice. 

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The South Beach Diet became an incredible success in the early 2000s, blowing past booksellers’ expectations, dominating the cultural moment and becoming a huge business. In the third episode of Losing It, we fly down to glamorous Miami to tell the story of the South Beach Diet and break down the formula for a hit diet. 

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When it comes to dieting, what’s old is new again. In the second episode of Losing we take a trip back in time through diet history — and explore why we keep falling for these absurd-sounding regimens decade after decade.  

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Calorie counts are everywhere from food packages to weight-loss apps. But calories aren’t all that they appear to be. In the series premiere of Losing it, we dive into how we got the calorie so wrong – and pretty much everything else about weight.

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For much of human history, we’ve turned to diets to lose weight and improve our health. But it’s mostly been in vain. Because no matter how much the number on the scale drops, chances are the weight will come back. That’s just what the science says. 

But when it comes to our weight, the facts don’t seem to make much difference. Dieting still has a grip on all of us. 

Losing It, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis, investigates how we got weight loss so wrong — and whether there’s a better way forward. Losing It launches on July 12. Subscribe to Prognosis today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

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That's right! We're honored to be nominated for a Webby, in the Science & Education category. Please take a minute to vote for us here:  https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2022/podcasts/general-series/science-education

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Virus hunters around the globe are already bracing for the next contagion which they fear could prove even more destructive than Covid. These scientists and doctors, drawing from hard-learned lessons from the past, are determined to stop future pandemics even as the current one continues to rage.

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Covid-19 is just the beginning for messenger RNA vaccines. Researchers are testing shots across a range of diseases, from cancer to malaria, HIV or even multiple sclerosis. There’s no guarantee the technology will work beyond infectious diseases, but if it does, it could transform medicine.

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Two biotech companies, Germany’s BioNTech and the U.S.’s Moderna, decided in January 2020 to wager their futures on developing a messenger RNA shot to fight Covid-19. What ensued was a head-spinning race to bring a vaccine to market quicker than ever before.

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The messenger RNA vaccines against Covid-19 seem to have emerged out of nowhere. But they’re based on decades of painstaking work, done in relative obscurity, by researchers who believed in the promise of the technology even if few others did.

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On the outside, city hospitals look just as they always have: big glass and steel buildings, an ER entrance with ambulances coming and going. But on the inside, Covid has completely transformed the hospital experience for patients, their families -- and for doctors and hospital staff. Once held in high esteem as the place where doctors performed miracles, hospitals have become more sombre places under the staggering weight of illness and death even as communities increasingly view them through the lens of vaccine misinformation and mistrust.

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The loss of the sense of smell affects almost one in every two people who get Covid-19. Usually it resolves within a week or two. But for some, like Dr. Alex McCutchan, smell and taste distortions persist for a year, leaving an invisible illness that disrupts daily life. Scientists like Leah Beauchamp are learning that its significance doesn’t end there. In this episode, Bloomberg’s Jason Gale meets two best friends who are exploring long Covid’s potentially scary, lifelong consequences. 

Story has been updated to correct Alex McCutchan's name.

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Neuroscientist David Putrino doesn’t profess to understand why some Covid-19 survivors suffer persistent symptoms or how to cure them, but he’s finding ways to help “long haulers” take control of their symptoms. In this episode, Bloomberg’s Jason Gale takes a virtual tour of Putrino’s Manhattan long Covid rehab clinic to chronicle patients’ journey to recovery.

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In a secure air-locked chamber in the world’s largest research hospital, Dan Chertow and a half-dozen other scientists in astronaut-inspired protective gear are carrying out a microscopic search inside Covid-19 victims to try to unlock one of the pandemic’s biggest and most disturbing mysteries.

On this episode, Bloomberg’s Jason Gale joins the critical-care physician on his exhaustive hunt for the coronavirus in the body and brain of fatal cases. By looking for clues in the deceased, Chertow aims to understand how to treat and prevent the disease in the living, including the lingering symptoms wracking millions of Covid “long haulers.” 

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With a loss of smell and a high fever, New Yorker Fiona Lowenstein had a classic case of Covid-19 before she knew what a classic Covid case was. But there was more she didn't know: she was also about to join a burgeoning group we now know as “long haulers.” On the first episode of “Breakthrough,” a new series from the Prognosis podcast, Bloomberg’s Jason Gale traces the early origins of a patient-led movement that drew lessons from AIDS activism to demand that the medical establishment listen.

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On Breakthrough, a new series from the Prognosis podcast, we explore how the pandemic is changing our understanding of healthcare and medicine. We start with an examination of long Covid, a mysterious new illness that has stumped doctors attempting to treat symptoms that last for months and potentially years. It has changed the way hospitals work and forced healthcare officials to prepare for the next pandemic. Covid has also opened the door to revolutionary technology: messenger RNA vaccines. It’s a technology that never could have been proven so quickly outside the crucible of that first pandemic year, 2020, and it holds big implications for the future of medicine. Breakthrough launches on Oct. 19. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Demographics alone would suggest Bradley County, Arkansas, should be struggling fiercely with local resistance against vaccines, just as many other counties are all across the southern U.S.

Yet in July, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced that Bradley was the first county in Arkansas to inoculate at least half of its eligible population. At the time, that was more than twice the rate of several other Arkansas counties.

In this bonus episode we head to Bradley County to find out what’s going on. The answer provides a case study on how to combat pockets of vaccine skepticism.

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In our final episode of the season, we look at where vaccine hesitancy stands in America today. More Americans are getting vaccinated every day, but the numbers of skeptics are still high enough to seriously threaten efforts to achieve widespread immunity and end the pandemic. The answer to solving that problem, though, may be an attitude adjustment from public health.

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We meet Dr. Timothy Sloan, a pastor of a black church in Texas, who is torn over how to talk to his congregants about the Covid-19 vaccines. He is skeptical about getting one, and knows the rest of his church is, too. But, the vaccines could also be a lifeline. Black Americans have died at about twice the rate of white Americans from the virus. So while there may be trust issues with the vaccines in communities of color, they’re also the communities that need vaccines the most. Dr. Sloan goes on a journey to find out who can help him learn more about the vaccines, and how the medical establishment can win back some of the trust it has lost over generations of mistreatment.

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In October 2020, anti-vaccine elite gathered for a conference to discuss, among other things, how to use the pandemic to grow their movement. In this episode, we travel inside the world of anti-vaccine extremists to show how they weaponize uncertainty and mistrust to spread rumors about vaccines — rumors that threaten to prolong the global pandemic.

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The 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak was a pivotal moment in explaining the vaccine hesitation we see today. The outbreak made clear that number of people opting out of vaccination was significant. But it also changed the people protesting vaccines. Before that, activists speaking out about vaccines had mainly been parents concerned about the safety of their kids. California's push to get rid of vaccine exemptions in the wake of the outbreak changed the conversation. It became political. It became about choice and freedom and democracy.

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Meet the man behind all the myths: Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield’s retracted 1998 study linking autism to vaccines helped kickstart the modern vaccine hesitancy movement. We’ll explore the forces that helped propel Wakefield into the spotlight and show how groundwork Wakefield laid decades ago helped seed the mistrust we’re seeing in the age of the coronavirus.

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In the series premiere of "Doubt," we meet Jon, a New York City paramedic struggling to decide whether he should get vaccinated. Bloomberg health reporter Kristen V. Brown shows how the pandemic has led many people like him to question vaccines for the first time — and how this distrust threatens to prolong the pandemic.

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This month marks the one-year anniversary in the U.S. of nationwide school closures. The public health measure was designed to help stem the spread of Covid-19. But in doing so, it’s had a profound effect on children. That’s in contrast to the disease itself, which rarely makes young people seriously ill. Jason Gale talked to experts about kids and Covid, and why keeping children out of the classroom may leave a lasting legacy.

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Fast-moving variants of the coronavirus seen in England, South Africa and Brazil have sparked concern around the world. Researchers worry some may diminish the potency of existing vaccines and complicate efforts to escape the pandemic. As COVID-19 cases started to climb in early 2020, British scientists decided to track the evolution of the pathogen. James Paton reports that this project gives the country and others the chance to respond quickly if alarming changes arise.

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A few decades ago, nobody really questioned vaccines. They were viewed as a standard part of staying healthy and safe. Today, the number of people questioning vaccines risks prolonging a pandemic that has already killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. How we got to this moment didn’t start with the rollout of vaccines or in March 2020, or even with the election of Donald Trump. Our confidence in vaccines, often isn't even about vaccines. It’s about trust. And that trust has been eroding for a long time. Doubt, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis podcast, looks at the forces that have been breaking down that trust. We'll trace the rise of vaccine skepticism in America to show how we got here — and where we’re going. Doubt launches on March 23. Subscribe to Prognosis today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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It’s been one year since Coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. And in that time, our lives have changed dramatically. 

The virus has imposed disease, death and loss on the U.S. and the world. It forced sweeping changes to daily life almost overnight. 

For this special episode of Prognosis, Bloomberg reporters Emma Court and Nic Querolo spoke with people across the U.S. about what this last year has been like for them, and how things could change moving forward. 

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Israel has had one of the world’s most successful vaccination efforts yet. Now a new study from the country shows the Pfizer vaccine was overwhelmingly effective against the virus. Public-health experts say the Israeli study shows that immunizations could end the pandemic. Naomi Kresge reports on what makes the Israeli study so significant, and why it might point to an eventual way out of the pandemic.

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More than 150 years after the end of slavery in the U.S., the net worth of a typical white family is nearly six times greater than that of the average Black family. Season 3 of The Pay Check digs into into how we got to where we are today and what can be done to narrow the yawning racial wealth gap in the U.S.

Jackie Simmons and Rebecca Greenfield co-host the season, which kicks off with a personal story about land Jackie's family acquired some time after slavery that they're on the verge of losing. From there the series explores all the ways the wealth gaps manifests and the radical solutions, like affirmative action, quotas, and reparations, that can potentially lead to greater equality.

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Vaccine distribution still has the feel of a zero-sum game. Five days after Israel received 700,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, Pfizer told other non-U.S. customers that it would cut supplies while it briefly closed a facility in Belgium.

The disparity in vaccine allocation is the product of a company struggling to apportion doses while demand far exceeds supply. Stephanie Baker and Cynthia Koons reported for Bloomberg Businessweek that the company has determined how many doses a country gets through an opaque process that appears to involve a mix of order size, position in the queue, production forecasts, calls from world leaders, and of course the desire to make a profit.

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In recent months, GOP lawmakers have heaped criticism on Democratic governors for how they handled outbreaks at nursing homes early in the pandemic. Michigan Republicans, who have been hostile to Governor Gretchen Whitmer throughout the crisis, are now asking the state’s attorney general to investigate how she coped with that challenge.

Republicans say that people died unnecessarily thanks to Whitmer’s order that nursing homes readmit residents with Covid-19 if they had capacity and quarantine capabilities. David Welch reports that Michigan’s fatality rate was lower than the national average, and many of those on the pandemic’s front line dispute the assertions.

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Now that Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine has been cleared by regulators, the company needs to ramp up doses fast. J and J is looking for manufacturing partnerships to increase supply. Riley Griffin spoke to the company’s chief executive officer, Alex Gorsky about his plan to immunize 20 million Americans by the end of the month, and 100 million by the end of June.

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New York City’s museums, sports arenas and entertainment venues are slowly coming back to life. But the sector has contracted dramatically under the pressure of the global pandemic. Jobs in arts, entertainment and recreation fell the most of all the city’s economic sectors, erasing a decade of gains in what was one of New York’s most vibrant industries. Spencer Norris explains what that means for cultural institutions, and the city that was one of the sector’s biggest boosters.

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Almost a month after U.S. vaccination campaigns ramped up to give Covid-19 shots to more than a million people a day, their second doses are coming due. That’s putting a strain on state rollouts, and leaving some people without complete immunizations. John Tozzi reports that as President Joe Biden accelerates purchases and distribution, critical weaknesses in the system are starting to show.

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Nine vaccines have proved effective at protecting people from developing symptoms of Covid-19. But we don’t know yet how good they are at preventing asymptomatic infections, and keeping vaccinated people from passing the virus on to others. The good news is that preliminary signs suggest they do at least some of both. Jason Gale discusses what we’re learning about how the shots work, as vaccination campaigns continue around the world.

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The U.S. vaccine supply is poised to double in the coming weeks and months, according to an analysis by Bloomberg, allowing a broad expansion of doses administered across the country. Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers and U.S. officials have accelerated their production timelines, and Drew Armstrong reports that the spigots are about to open, providing hundreds of millions of doses just as pharmacies and mass-vaccination sites become more equipped to administer them.

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As vaccines roll out across the U.S., logistics and supply are just some of the challenges in making sure everyone has equal access to the vaccine. Angelica LaVito reports how one Boston health system is also confronting another major problem in vaccine distribution: a long history of racial inequity in the U.S. healthcare system.

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Doctors and nurses can feel as if they’re living in two worlds. One in which patients are getting sick and dying from the coronavirus, and another in which people deny the virus is real. Emergency room physician Mike Hunihan describes what it’s like to live and work with that dissonance. Today's special episode is a collaboration with Tradeoffs, a podcast about our costly, complicated and counter-intuitive health care system.

Subscribe to the Tradeoffs podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Or check them out at tradeoffs.org.

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On the outskirts of Marburg, a small college town in Germany, coronavirus vaccine manufacturer BioNTech has spent five frantic months renovating one of its factories to produce mRNA. Demand for the vaccine has been so massive that the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership can’t meet it with its existing facilities--hence the race to retrofit factories that weren't initially designed to support the vaccine. Naomi Kresge reports that success would mean being able to vaccinate about 375 million more people per year, and help bring the pandemic under control.

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Just two months ago, the incredible performance of new vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer had people cheering for an imminent end to the pandemic. But an onslaught of fast-spreading and potentially dangerous mutations of the virus changed that. So now, even as pharma companies ramp up production in the early stages of a massive rollout, they are racing to retool their vaccine strategies. Robert Langreth reports that booster shots could give drugmakers a lucrative new revenue stream. 

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This weekend, Chicago Public Schools reached a tentative agreement with its teachers to resume in-person learning later this week. The deal isn’t final, and it’s the latest in a series of tense back-and-forth between the city’s schools and its teachers union. The bitter fight in Chicago echoes other big cities. Shruti Singh reports that tensions have escalated coast to coast between unions fearing the spread of Covid-19, and local officials under pressure to get teachers back into the classroom.

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When we’re coming down with a cold or are feeling a bit stressed, or perhaps even exhibiting the first symptoms of COVID-19: minute changes to our voice are often one of the first indicators that something is wrong. These vocal biomarkers are often beyond what a human can detect: but what if an app on your phone could? Health reporter Michelle Fay Cortez recently spoke to David Liu, CEO of Sonde Health, which has released an app that uses a person’s voice to detect early symptoms of respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. She explores what vocal biomarkers can tell us. 

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Joe Biden’s new Covid-19 czar is a former business executive and Biden ally named Jeff Zients, who is little known to most Americans. Zients doesn’t have a medical or military background, like the two men who ran Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administration’s vaccine delivery program. Anna Edney reports that the posting will test Zients’s reputation with Democrats in Washington as the go-to-guy when things go awry.

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Since Pfizer and Moderna vaccine shipments in the U.S. began in mid-December, the priority has been doctors, nurses and other professionals likely to come in contact with the novel coronavirus. But health care workers who aren’t with hospitals and major health systems say they’re being overlooked. Elise Young reports that thousands of health-care workers are still seeking vaccinations even as states and cities open eligibility to people far removed from the pandemic’s front line.

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Rochelle Walensky, the new leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, faces two difficult missions at the same time: Leading the agency’s Covid-19 response and trying to restore the agency’s stature, post-Trump. I talked to John Tozzi reports on the job ahead for Walensky, and how she plans to achieve it.

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The U.S. is struggling to monitor Covid-19 variants, a key part of watching for the emergence of dangerous mutations that might spread quickly, evade vaccines or kill more infected people. The country ranks 32nd in the world for the number of tests it’s done to detect mutations per 1,000 Covid cases. Kristen V. Brown reports that other countries, like the U.K., have established robust, nationwide surveillance programs to identify new Covid genomes and track the spread of existing ones.

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President Joe Biden has vowed to reopen most U.S. schools in his first 100 days. But that could ignite clashes among teachers, their unions and parents over how to do that safely. Petitions and potential teacher strikes loom, even while parents watch children struggle online. Nic Querolo reports that the issue has been one of the toughest pandemic challenges for local policymakers.

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Vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and others will have the power to one day end the pandemic, or at least tame it—but only after 70 percent or more of the world’s population gets inoculated against Covid-19. So far, the rollout has been anything but smooth. Big drugstores say they’re ready to come to the rescue. Robert Langreth and Angelica Lavito describe the potentially massive vaccine infrastructure that the neighborhood pharmacy could provide.

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In a race to catch up with emerging coronavirus variants, wealthy countries are already benefiting from potent vaccines. While the U.S., Britain and European Union have given citizens about 24 million doses so far -- more than half of the shots administered globally -- vast numbers of countries have yet to begin their campaigns. James Paton reports that these disparities pose a threat to both have and have-not states.

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Everyone is fighting the same coronavirus, but nearly a year into the pandemic, quality of life and control of the pathogen’s spread look vastly different across the world. Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking scores the largest 53 economies on their success at containing the virus with the least amount of social and economic disruption. Rachel Chang discusses the data and the analysis that went into determining the best places for weathering the pandemic.

This episode was originally released on November 27, 2020.

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An accelerating rush to give coronavirus vaccines to Americans has caused confusion over who can get a shot when. And the difficulty getting shots -- or even information about the vaccine -- is complicating the push toward widespread immunity. Michelle Fay Cortez reports on what’s gone wrong with the vaccine rollout so far, and whether the upcoming Biden administration’s plans will improve it.

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Most states have prioritized health-care workers in their vaccination programs. But across the country, vaccine providers are finding that some of those workers don’t want the shot. Nurses and firefighters are among those questioning its safety after approval in record time. Elise Young reports that reluctance to get the shot that could end the pandemic goes well beyond anti-vax activists who spout unproven theories on social media.

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As vaccinations roll out across the country, a few people have incurred serious allergic reactions. Though the rate is very low, it is still higher than that for the seasonal flu vaccine. Despite that, the CDC is sticking with its recommendation that most people should still get the shots. Emma Court explains why.

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The United Kingdom’s national health system is in danger of breaking under the weight of its raging Coronavirus outbreak, and the next few weeks will be its biggest challenge yet. The death toll is the highest in Europe and daily infections are at a record. Medical staff say they may be forced to turn people away from hospitals if the latest lockdown fails to stop the spread quickly enough. James Paton reports from London on the fast-spreading new virus strain and the next crucial weeks for the country’s health system.

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As states struggle to piece together vaccine strategies without a coordinated national plan, some have resorted to web-based technology for logistical support. The result: they’re lining up appointments using software that’s better suited for arranging volleyball meetups than a historic public health campaign. 

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Indonesia had planned to prioritize its working-age population for its Covid-19 vaccine. But they recently announced a change of plans: The inoculation program would instead start with healthcare workers, civil servants and the elderly. The government didn’t give a reason for the change, but the shifting procedures show some of the difficulties in coordinating a vaccine rollout for a massive nation spread across a string of islands.

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On today’s special edition of the podcast, we’re revisiting one of our early episodes that took a close look at how the novel coronavirus lived before it entered humans and who it lived in. Bats are almost certainly the source of this pandemic, but these flying mammals may also hold the clues to stopping the next one. Bloomberg senior editor Jason Gale explores how research into bats led to the discovery of what could be the precursor of the novel coronavirus.

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Scientists have long believed the source of the pandemic can be traced back to bats. Pioneering research by an Australian veterinarian named Dr. Hume Field more than 20 years ago showed why bats are an important host of some of humanity's most feared viruses. Bloomberg senior editor Jason Gale recently caught up with Hume to hear more about how the SARS-CoV-2 virus got from bats to people.

Mentioned in this podcast:

China Is Making It Harder to Solve the Mystery of How Covid Began

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The approved COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna and the Pfizer and BioNTech partnership use genetic material called messenger RNA to effectively transform the body’s own cells into vaccine factories. This approach is a first for vaccines. It relies on decades of clinical research into whether messenger RNA technology can be used to treat a broad range of ailments, from cancer to the seasonal flu. Naomi Kresge explores whether the validation of this breakthrough technology during COVID-19 could bring about a whole new field of medicine.

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The U.S. has begun a massive vaccination campaign to fight the coronavirus. But the effort will have plenty of challenges, including convincing people to get immunized. It’s not the first time the country has rolled out this kind of public health initiative. John Lauerman spoke with infectious-disease specialist William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University to learn more.

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U.S. companies are taking some of the first concrete steps to prepare for the unprecedented and complex task of distributing hundreds of millions of doses to the American workforce. That means, for some: procuring deep-freezers to store vaccines or setting up health clinics at their facilities. Others are weighing whether to require vaccination for employees returning to in-person work. And, as Ryan Beene reports, several industries are lobbying to get their workers near the front of the line after the first doses go to health-care workers and nursing home residents.

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Just one month ago, Iowa experienced its worst Covid-19 surge yet. Coronavirus cases began soaring there in early November, as they have throughout the United States. By the middle of the month, Iowa was recording about 4,000 new cases every day. But this week, staff at a University of Iowa Health Care system finally had reason to celebrate. The first doses of Pfizer’s vaccine arrived at the Iowa City location Monday morning, in tiny vials packed in dry ice. Angelica Lavito spoke to healthcare workers there just after they became some of the first Americans outside of clinical trials to get immunized against the deadly disease.

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As the first shots of the Covid-19 vaccines in the U.S. are administered, one of many big hurdles has yet to be cleared: States must transport and distribute the massive orders to the millions who need it. The state of Louisiana has been thinking about this problem for months. In November, they decided to test their vaccination strategy, using the flu vaccine. Angelica Lavito went to Shreveport as the project was unfolding, to find out what a mass vaccination looks like during a pandemic.

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At the center of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s program to accelerate the development of Covid treatments and vaccines, is a man named Moncef Slaoui. Dr. Slaoui is chief scientific adviser for the Operation, and is trying to leverage decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry to secure deals that can help curb the pandemic. Riley Griffin spoke to him about the possibility that his work might accelerate a treatment for the deadliest Covid-19 cases, a critical step in the months before a vaccine is widespread.

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The U.K. began administering the first Covid-19 vaccine this week, and the U.S. may do the same within days. But, the emergence of these vaccines brings tough choices around who gets it first and how it will be distributed. Bloomberg senior editor Jason Gale spoke with an ethics expert about the thinking behind some of these decisions and how the current vaccines could affect how we develop future ones.

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The coming week could mark an early turning point in the U.S. battle against Covid-19. An advisory panel made up of top medical experts will meet December 10th to help the Food and Drug Administration review the drug for possible emergency authorization. That would clear the way to making it a top weapon against the virus. Reporter Anna Edney breaks down the next steps in the approval process, and helps explain the reality of making the vaccine available to the public.

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Weeks before U.S. states expect to receive their first shipments of Covid-19 vaccines, they’re getting conflicting messages from the federal government about exactly how many doses may arrive. Some governors have made splashy announcements about how much of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccines they expect to get if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizes them this month. Other states can’t provide a solid answer. But all of them must submit orders and distribution plans Friday. Reporter Angelica Lavito reports that the shifting expectations are creating all sorts of problems.

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One of Joe Biden’s first acts as president-elect was to announce a Covid-19 advisory board, putting the fight against the pandemic front and center in his presidential plans. On today's episode, a member of that advisory board talks to us about how a Biden White House plans to overhaul the government’s Coronavirus response.

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In Canada, the Covid-19 outbreak has affected much of the country. In Quebec, where three in five of Canada’s virus deaths have hit, rage over new lockdowns is palpable. In Ontario, ICUs are filling up. Out west, caseloads are hitting records.

But four eastern Canadian provinces, comprising 2.4 million people, have banded together, barred outsiders, and hewed tightly to health guidelines. As a result, the region has a Covid-19 death rate that’s one tenth the rest of the country’s. With almost no one noticing, Atlantic Canada has become a pandemic Shangri-La. Montreal Bureau Chief Sandrine Rastello reports on the outpost of quiet obedience that calls itself the Atlantic Bubble.

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Today’s episode is a collaboration with Bloomberg Law. Hosted by David Schultz, this special investigative podcast examines how businesses of every stripe, large and small, assumed they had insurance that covered them in the event of a shutdown and how those assumptions were, by and large, wrong. 

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Everyone is fighting the same coronavirus, but nearly a year into the pandemic, quality of life and control of the pathogen’s spread look vastly different across the world. Bloomberg’s new Covid Resilience Ranking scores the largest 53 economies on their success at containing the virus with the least amount of social and economic disruption. Rachel Chang discusses the data and the analysis that went into determining the best places for weathering the pandemic. 

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Amid a lame duck presidency and with the widespread availability of a COVID-19 vaccine still months away, US governors have become the first line of defense against the pandemic’s winter onslaught. Emma Court discusses how, with a lack of federal leadership, it has fallen to local authorities to impose mask mandates, curfews, and potentially even lockdowns before the winter, and the holidays, hit.

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Restaurants across the country have been building and using outdoor dining spaces since the summer. But as winter approaches, many establishments are converting them into sheds or tents to help keep customers warm. As Kristen V. Brown reports, these new structures can sometimes feel more indoors than outdoors. We wondered how safe they really are for patrons.

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In a mere nine months, Eli Lilly accomplished an unprecedented feat: The drug giant took a blood sample from one of the first U.S. patients to recover from Covid-19, identified an antibody that could fight the virus, and created a version of the antibody to treat people with the disease. Riley Griffin spoke to Lilly's CEO David Ricks about the challenges facing the company and its new treatment amid the worsening pandemic.

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It’s taken less than a year for scientists to develop what appears to be an effective vaccine against the coronavirus. Drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech delivered dazzling preliminary results in a large patient trial this month, and just today Moderna announced that its vaccine also looks extremely effective. But creating a vaccine is only part of the challenge. Jason Gale spoke with top US infectious-disease doctor Anthony Fauci about another impediment to a successful vaccination strategy: people not wanting to take it.

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New Zealand is one of the countries that has been most successful in crushing the spread of the coronavirus. Now, the World Health Organization has asked former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark to co-chair an independent panel evaluating the critical steps taken early in the pandemic. She spoke to senior editor Jason Gale about how different countries approached the virus spread, and which approaches worked.

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Eight months into the pandemic, the coronavirus is on a rampage around the world. In Europe, a surge in cases has led to a new wave of lockdowns. The U.S. is entering its most dangerous period for the virus yet, and more than 10 million people have been infected. With Michelle Fay Cortez and Robert Langreth, we look back at how we got here, and ahead to what’s next for the outbreak.

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Countries like the United Kingdom and France are locking down amid a spike in cases. They’re concerned that winter will only make things worse. But if Europe and America want to see an example of how well lockdowns work during colder months, they need only look at Melbourne, Australia. The country’s second-largest city went through two lockdowns – one of which happened during its winter. Remarkably, the city has reported no new cases since late October. But, Jason Gale reports, it has come at a cost.

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Cornell University, in upstate New York, welcomed around 24,000 people back to campus this fall. The idea of students packed into dorms and mingling in classrooms made many people nervous. But while outbreaks have plagued colleges across the country, Cornell has managed to keep a lid on its Covid cases. In fact, the college’s test-positivity rate has been among the lowest of any college or university in the country doing large-scale testing. Reporter Emma Court looked into how the school has done it.

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The holidays will not be business as usual this year. Instead of just figuring out what to cook for Thanksgiving dinner, we have to consider things like who we can invite to dinner safely, or whether we should even be hosting a meal at all. Reporter Kristen V. Brown finds expert answers to your questions around social distancing etiquette and the Holiday season.

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Operation Warp Speed, The White House’s effort to fast-track a vaccine for covid-19, appears to be a conspicuous exception to the government’s otherwise disastrous management of the pandemic. The project has cleared bureaucratic hurdles and awarded more than $12 billion in vaccine-related contracts and has an overall budget of as much as $18 billion. Cynthia Koons reports on what Operation Warp Speed is doing behind the scenes.

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The coronavirus is both a medical problem and a public-health problem – that’s baked into its biology. But the pandemic in the U.S. has been exacerbated by another challenge of our own making: a pervasive atmosphere of distrust. That atmosphere has let misinformation about the virus flourish. That misinformation is often amplified by the man with the country’s loudest megaphone, President Donald Trump. John Tozzi reports that the information crisis has made practicing medicine in a pandemic even more difficult.

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The U.S. government’s Covid-19 strategy has been to rely on developing vaccines and treatments, rather than emphase measures to limit the spread of the disease. That could delay the return to normal life for Americans. One report suggests that if the vaccine program has any hiccups, we could be living with the virus well into 2023. Health reporter Naomi Kresge reports on the cost of the government’s focus on developing drugs rather than changing behavior.

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Robinhood has become one of the Covid economy’s breakout successes. Americans marooned at home binge-watched Netflix shows, went shopping on Amazon Prime, and discovered day trading on their mobile phones. “Robinhood traders” became the shorthand explanation for the frenzy of often speculative retail investing in the pandemic lockdowns. But Annie Massa reports that Robinhood is now racing to prove it can manage a simple online trading platform and overcome a reputation for poor customer service.

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Black Americans have an increased vulnerability to Covid. Many explanations have been floated for that: Black people are more likely to have chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure; many work in frontline jobs. But Cynthia Koons reports that scientists are increasingly certain that bad air plays a role in the coronavirus’s course. One ZIP code in Detroit illustrates the relationship between severe Covid cases and disproportionate pollution.

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In the U.S., enthusiasm on the right is building for so-called herd immunity, as the public grows skeptical of coronavirus vaccines. These developments could dash hopes for containing Covid-19 in the months ahead.

Proponents of herd immunity say exposing more people to the coronavirus will build protection broadly in the population. But experts say that will result in many more illnesses and deaths, and that vaccines are a safer route to herd immunity. Emma Court reports that the concept gained traction in the White House, due to the increasing influence of Trump medical advisor Scott Atlas. It was backed this month by a group of academics in a treatise titled the Great Barrington Declaration.

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Millions of Europeans are facing tighter restrictions on their movements, with London, Paris, and Vienna enforcing stricter curbs. On Monday, the government of Wales announced a two-week “fire-break” lockdown designed to curb the spread of coronavirus. All non-essential retail outlets, including pubs and restaurants, will be closed from October 23rd to November 9th. Bloomberg reporter Catherine Bosley reports how Europe is hoping to control this new wave of coronavirus infections and whether another round of restrictions and lockdowns can offset the economic devastation in the region the pandemic has already caused.

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The Los Angeles Lakers took home the NBA championship this week. But the close of the season also marked a big victory for the league itself. The NBA played its finals in a unique environment that came to be known as the bubble. Players were frequently tested and social distancing was heavily enforced. And, the experiment worked. The NBA did not report a single positive coronavirus case from players or staff. Reporters Emma Court and Brandon Kochkodin describe how the league did it, and whether other organizations can replicate its success.

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States are racing the clock to meet a Friday deadline from the Federal government to submit their plans to distribute a vaccine, once an effective one is ready. But Angelica Lavito reports that they’re putting together their strategies effectively blindfolded. State health officials have no clue which vaccine they will be distributing, nor when — or even if — a vaccine will be forthcoming.

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President Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail today a little over a week after testing positive for the coronavirus. His campaign hopes to reverse polling trends that show him falling further behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden. But as the president prepares to address supporters amid record U.S. deaths from the pandemic, the virus stays with him, both literally and figuratively. Michelle Fay Cortez reports that Trump’s handling of his own infection, and the cluster of infections at the White House, is a microcosm of the country’s pandemic response.

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Obesity is a known risk factor for severe complications of Covid-19. But scientists are learning that the link between extra pounds and severe Covid-19 may be even stronger than they thought. This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that people who are merely overweight, not just the obese, may be at high risk of serious disease from the infection. Emma Court reports that the warning means about two-thirds of Americans could face higher risks.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been working for months to hammer out clear standards for vaccines seeking fast-track approval. Yesterday, The agency made a series of moves that all but assured that a shot won’t be widely available by Election Day. Senior editor for Health Care Drew Armstrong explains what that means for a fast vaccine, and for Trump’s re-election.

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Dozens of companies are rushing to test and produce a Covid-19 vaccine as fast as possible. But a fringe group of DIY scientists made a bet that without regulatory hurdles, they could produce a vaccine themselves a whole lot faster. But as Kristen V. Brown reports, they learned that making a vaccine that works reliably--and can be proven safe--is incredibly difficult.

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President Donald Trump’s diagnosis of coronavirus has raised questions about everything from the Supreme Court nominating process to the possibility of future presidential debates. And of course, the unprecedented possibility of a candidate being removed from the ticket this late in an election year. Drew Armstrong and Michelle Fay Cortez discuss what we know, and still don’t, about what happens next.

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