Welcome to Episode 8 of “COVID: What comes next,” an exclusive weekly Providence Journal/USA TODAY NETWORK podcast featuring Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and an internationally respected expert on pandemic response

COVID: What comes next - With Dr. Ashish Jha

With the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine having reached the states on Monday, Dr. Jha breaks down the manufacturing, transportation and administration considerations of this largest-ever mass vaccination effort. As he explains, Operation Warp Speed was a partnership of the federal government and private companies, including Fedex and UPS; normally competitors, they joined forces to get the Pfizer vaccine to thousands of destinations. Two other competitors, the pharmacy giants Walgreens and CVS Health, are cooperating in providing the Pfizer vaccine to residents and staff of long-term-care facilities.

Also today, Dr. Jha looks ahead to later this week, when the Moderna vaccine is expected to received Emergency Use Authorization. And Dr. Jha today answered the first audience-submitted questions from what is now a weekly feature of the “COVID: What comes next” podcast.

The first question was: “Why is there not a standard mask now for the general population?” The second, from a parent in Missouri whose son will soon be attending Brown was: “What about students who have previously experienced anaphylactic reactions and are now being told not to take the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine?” And the third question Dr. Jha answered was: “Should patients on biologics like Humira, who thus are immunosuppressed, receive COVID vaccine at the same time the elderly receive it! Or with the first responders?”

If you have a COVID-related question, please send to [e-mail] with “Question for Dr. Jha” in the subject field. Depending on volume, Dr. Jha will get to as many questions as he can.

This weekly podcast is hosted by G. Wayne Miller, health reporter for The Providence Journal. It can be downloaded at

https://omny.fm/shows/covid-what-comes-next-with-dr-ashish-jha