Behavioural economist, Professor Pete Lunn shares expert insights on how our behaviour impacts the spread of the COVI19 and what drives this behaviour. Pete is head of the Economic and Social Research Institute's Behavioural Research Unit and a member of a subgroup that advises NPHET on public response to the pandemic. He tells Dick what questions this group has asked about public behaviour in the pandemic, and shares some of the surprising answers this research has revealed about how we balance risks and make decisions. In our Vaccine Questions podcast Ep 7 Behavioural economist, Professor Pe ..read more

Chief Bioethics Officer at the Department of Health, Dr Siobhán O’Sullivan talks about the difficult decisions officials and individuals must grapple with in this pandemic and the values and principles which underpin them. While science plays a vital role in informing decisions such as prioritisation for vaccination, these decisions are not made in a vacuum. They impact on all our lives and require assessment of legal, socio-economic factors, and judgements about what is right and wrong and what kind of society we want to live in. Siobhán explains how bioethics provides a framework that helps ..read more

In episode five Dick chats to Professor Jane Suiter, Director of the Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society at DCU about what drives the spread of disinformation and how it can undermine vaccination programmes. What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation and are they the same thing as fake news? Dick asks Jane to explain what these terms mean and they discuss the evolution of disinformation, what drives it, and what makes people susceptible to it. Jane also outlines some ways it can be tackled, by those who own or regulate social media and by us as everyday user ..read more

Emer Cooke, Head of the European Medicines Agency explains its role in assessing and authorising COVID19 vaccines, and Dick asks why should we trust the EMA to ensure that all the vaccines we receive are safe and reliable? COVID19 vaccines can only become available to us here in Ireland once they are authorised by the European Commission following evaluation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).  In this episode, host Dick Ahlstrom talks to Emer Cooke, an Irish pharmacist who took on the role of Executive Director of the EMA in November 2020. She explains the role of the EMA and the ste ..read more

Dr Lucy Jessop is Director of Public Health at the National Immunisation Office. In this episode she explains when, where and how people will get their vaccination shots, and answers lots of your questions around what side effects to expect. Here's the link to a factsheet on vaccination for pregnant and breastfeeding women: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/hcpinfo/covid19vaccineinfo4hps/qaiogniac.pdf This series is organised by the Royal Irish Academy Life and Medical Sciences Committee in partnership with the Health Research Board ..read more

Professor Philip Nolan explains the numbers we hear on the news and virologist Dr Gerald Barry answers your questions on vaccines. News coverage of the pandemic is full of numbers and statistics. Daily figures of new COVID19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths are provided alongside other numbers like 7-day average case number, incidence of disease per hundred thousand, positivity rate and growth rate. Where do these figures come from and what can they tell us?  In this episode Dick talks to Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group to NPHET about ..read more

Luke O'Neil, MRIA speaks to Dick Ahlstrom, in the first episode of our new Vaccine podcast series, about the first COVID-19 vaccine given on the Island of Ireland, why this is such exciting news and why it is such an amazing achievement for science. The first COVID-19 vaccine on the island of Ireland was given to a nurse in Belfast on 8 December 2020, and with the European Medicines Agency due to make a decision on the Pfizer vaccine on Monday, the Government of Ireland has also said its Covid-19 vaccination programme could begin before the new year. Speaking to host Dick A ..read more

In the final episode of this series, Professor of Immunology Christine Loscher discusses the vaccine rollout and answers questions on vaccines for teens, booster shots and more. As we reach 70 percent of the population of Ireland vaccinated against COVID-19, host Dick Ahlstrom chats to immunologist Professor Christine Loscher about how Ireland has performed in terms of its vaccination programme, what we have learned about the virus and about vaccines over the last year and what’s new in terms of vaccine development. She also answers questions on the vaccination of children and teens and on the ..read more

Behavioural economist, Professor Pete Lunn shares expert insights on how our behaviour impacts the spread of the COVI19 and what drives this behaviour. Pete is head of the Economic and Social Research Institute's Behavioural Research Unit and a member of a subgroup that advises NPHET on public response to the pandemic. He tells Dick what questions this group has asked about public behaviour in the pandemic, and shares some of the surprising answers this research has revealed about how we balance risks and make decisions. In our Vaccine Questions podcast Ep 7 Behavioural economist, Professor Pe ..read more

Chief Bioethics Officer at the Department of Health, Dr Siobhán O’Sullivan talks about the difficult decisions officials and individuals must grapple with in this pandemic and the values and principles which underpin them. While science plays a vital role in informing decisions such as prioritisation for vaccination, these decisions are not made in a vacuum. They impact on all our lives and require assessment of legal, socio-economic factors, and judgements about what is right and wrong and what kind of society we want to live in. Siobhán explains how bioethics provides a framework that helps ..read more