The Meharry and Vanderbilt-based expert shares insights into reaching less trustful populations on the first podcast episode.
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Episode highlights
0:18 – How we got here
3:10 – Contagion® COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker Update
5:37 – Introducing Donald Alcendor, PhD
6:11 – Vaccine hesitancy, community to community
13:40 – Oversight of science by non-scientists
17:05 – Will phase 3 data influence people?
23:14 – How has vaccine hesitancy been beaten before?
27:40 – Better representation in vaccine research?
32:20 – Concerns of vaccine inequity
37:26 – Outro
Few medical advances have progressed with such expediency, scrutiny, and financial backing as the development of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines.
In just 10 months, drug developers, legislators, and researchers have collaborated on the condensed creation, assessment, and planned distribution of nearly a dozen likely candidates designed to curb coronavirus’ spread. If majority population immunity is the safest, most efficient mean to end the effect of a pandemic that’s already cost 210,000-plus lives, then whatever vaccines reach market could be world-changing.
Beyond coverage of the spread, prevention, and treatment of coronavirus, Contagion® recognizes the need to give unique focus to this unparalleled clinical effort. Readers can follow along vaccine research and insights on the COVID-19 Vaccine page, and can catch up on the individual candidates’ progression on the Live Vaccine Tracker.
And now, they can tune in to the Vaccine Race podcast, a limited series designed to provide everything new to know and learn about the COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
The inaugural episode’s featured guest is Donald J. Alcendor, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cancer Biology at Meharry Medical College and Adjunct Associate Professor of Cancer Biology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
After updates on vaccine developments, new data, FDA guidance, and distribution deals, Alcendor joins to discuss the need for vaccine buy-in from hard-to-reach populations and communities historically at odds with healthcare.
Alejandra Gurtman, MD, discussed the phase 2 data at IDWeek 2026 which showed the investigational 25-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 25vPnC produced serotype 3 antibody levels about 15-fold higher than Prevnar 20 after the booster dose, targeting a serotype still behind 10.6% of invasive pneumococcal disease in US children younger than five years.
Monthly elebsiran plus tobevibart achieved undetectable HDV RNA with ALT normalization in 44% of patients at week 48 in the pivotal phase 3 ECLIPSE 1 trial.
IDSA and ESCMID released 7 consensus statements to assist in managing individuals with SAB. This review will focus on the adult patient population and additional information on pediatric population statements can be assessed in the guideline. Here is a closer look at Consensus Statement 2: Follow-up Blood Cultures.
IDSA and ESCMID released 7 consensus statements to assist in managing individuals with Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia (SAB). This review will focus on the adult patient population and additional information on pediatric population statements can be assessed in the guideline.
New data from the PETERPEN trial suggest that piperacillin-tazobactam may be noninferior to meropenem for early clinical outcomes in select patients with ESBL bloodstream infections, but carbapenems remain the standard of care until final mortality results are available and fully analyzed.
Recent urinary tract infection guideline updates from multiple international
medical societies highlight evolving recommendations, including a major shift
in classification, moving from anatomy- and risk factor–based definitions
toward distinguishing localized from systemic infections.