36: Dr. Stephen Barr debunks vaccine myths and talks about Western University's new COVID vaccine

 
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Hi everybody and thank you for listening to episode 36 of the Learn With Lels podcast!

On this episode, I spoke with Dr. Stephen Barr, who is a professor at my workplace and alma mater, Western University. Dr. Barr is a virologist, and his lab studies emerging pathogens like HIV, Ebola, and coronavirus. Right now, he and his team are actually developing a new COVID-19 vaccine, as well as a vaccine bank that will help protect us against future corona outbreaks.

In our conversation we talked about:

  • how the COVID-19 vaccine works;

  • how the vaccine he’s working on will differ from the existing vaccines we have in Canada;

  • his thoughts on the vaccine for pregnant women or people who are hoping to get pregnant soon; and

  • why the COVID-19 vaccines are safe, necessary, and won’t lead to any odd health issues later down the line. 

I feel like this conversation is just so necessary for people to hear right now. I’ve had a lot of conversations about the vaccine and have certainly had some questions and even concerns about it. So, it was great to talk to an expert in the field to address these worries and to debunk any anti-vaccination myths.

I also really enjoyed how Dr. Barr referred to his work as “fun.” To me, working to stop a pandemic sounds extremely stressful, but I’m happy that he is excited to do this work because it will ultimately help all of us in the long run.

Thank you for listening, and I really hope you enjoy this very informative conversation with Dr. Stephen Barr.

If you like this podcast, please subscribe wherever you listen, and follow me on social for more content (@LearnWithLels on Instagram and @KaitlinJingco on LinkedIn and Twitter).

Kaitlin JingcoComment