Michael Osterholm: "We could have another pandemic & we’re going to pay a heavy price if we’re not prepared"
Michael Osterholm's was interviewed for a piece at Mother Jones on why President Trump's enthusiasm about the development of a universal flu vaccine doesn't quite jive with his budget plans.❝ So does Trump’s alleged enthusiasm bode well for researchers? Michael Osterholm, a flu researcher and the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, doesn’t want to speculate. “It’s gratifying to see many parties now talking about the need for a game-changing influenza vaccine—we’ve come a long way in this discussion,” he told me. But it’s going to take a lot more than talk. In a recent New York Times op-ed, Osterholm pointed out that while the federal government spends about $1 billion a year on HIV vaccine research, in 2017 it dedicated just $43 million to studying a universal flu vaccine. This is despite the fact that flu now kills far more Americans than HIV/AIDS.
“Just $10 million here and $10 million there is not going to do it,” Osterholm told me. “Tomorrow we could have another pandemic, and we’re going to pay a heavy price if we’re not prepared.” [MotherJones.com]
 | MICHAEL OSTERHOLM is the author of Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs & Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota. Watch him discuss why it is that he does what he does below, and learn more about booking Michael for your next event today. |
