Imperfect Immunity

As we trudge through our third year of the pandemic, what is the state of our immunity to COVID? On this week’s On the Media, hear how vaccines and reinfections interact with fast-evolving variants. Plus, why we should take the recent monkeypox outbreak seriously, but avoid panicking.

1. Katherine Wu [@KatherineJWu], staff writer for The Atlantic, on building immunity three years into the pandemic. Listen.

2. David Robertson, doctoral candidate at Princeton University, on what the press got wrong when covering herd immunity. Listen.

3. Fiona Lowenstein [@fi_lowenstein], journalist and founder of Body Politic, on how to write about Long Covid. Listen.

4. Jon Cohen [@sciencecohen], writer at Science, on why we shouldn't compare the recent monkeypox outbreak to Covid. Listen.

Music: 
Sleep Talking by Ornette Coleman
Sonata for Violin and Guitar (Mauro Giuliani) by Itzhak Perlman and John Williams
Superstition (Stevie Wonder) by Jung Sungha
I Got A Right To Sing the Blues by Billy Kyle
John’s Book of Alleged Dances by The Kronos Quartet

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

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