#07 - Send in the Gardener’s Son

In this episode we chat about vaccines and how they have saved the lives of hundreds of millions of people and animals. We also discuss the curious and mysterious nature of viruses – they are part of us and every living organism, and yet they are our biggest killers. From the advent of agriculture, viruses co-evolved with us and our domesticated animals, ever changing, fascinating shape-shifters hiding from our immune system and our vaccines to fight them. Legends such as Koch, Jenner, Salk, Hilleman have saved the lives of countless billions (of people and animals) from death, untold misery and sickness - but we are in an eternal war, and cannot rest on past success. 

Books referenced: 

• Vaccinated: From Cowpox to mRNA, the Remarkable Story of Vaccines
• Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure
• Influenza: The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic
• Polio: An American Story