User:Ssant156/Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak

= Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak = This 2020 docuseries takes on topics of serious illnesses and the anti-vaccine debate to spread awareness on just how quickly a disease can spread. With the H1N1 influenza virus killing 50-100 million people as long as century ago, researchers and scientists believe another pandemic is on the horizon. This series follows researchers, business men, doctors, health advocates and more on their journey to fight another fatal virus.

Episode One: It Hunts Us
The show opens with researchers in a mass grave filled with people who died from the influenza virus a century ago. In New York City, hospital workers are preparing to deal with patients who have cases of respiratory illness and are being told how many people have been affected or died from the outbreak. Employees from NYC Health & Hospitals take place in a simulation designed to assess their readiness for a major flu outbreak. Dr. Syra Madad is the person in charge of NYC’s municipal hospitals against infectious disease outbreaks. Her job is to contain the virus in NYC. She believes she needs to remind the population about the severity of infectious diseases, such as the influenza virus. She starts a weekly system-wide seasonal flu activation call with all hospitals across the system to see if there are any advances in the hospitals (and prevent widespread activity). She usually spends her days in meetings, all centered around the flu. Making the world safe for her two children drives her to work harder. She doesn’t tell her children or any of her kids’ classmates’ parents what she does due to possible fears on their part – they would just assume she has a deadly disease. In Oklahoma, Holly Garacke is the only doctor at her county’s hospital. She speaks about how her entire life revolves around the hospital and her journey being a small-town doctor. She is afraid about what would happen if a pandemic breaks out. Resources would take longer to replenish than they would in a larger county. In her hospital, five new patients were admitted with flu-like symptoms. By January of 2018, there were over seventy Oklahoman's that passed away from the flu. Holly believes this year’s flu season will be worse than that. In Vietnam, Dr. Dennis Carrol serves as the director of the US agency for international developments emerging threats unit. 60% of those that contract the avian flu die and he is observing chickens to see if they carry it. Specifically, he is trying to research the H7N9 virus among chickens in China. He says that a pandemic influenza will most likely come from an animal and that it will be a brand-new virus, as opposed to a seasonal virus. This pandemic virus is especially dangerous because the human body does not have any defenses against animal-based flus. He believes that the biggest issue with the flu is the perception people have of it; many individuals do not see it as a big deal. Back in New York, Jake Glanville is working to create the world’s first universal flu vaccine. He says that amazing vaccines have been created that prevent illnesses, but they do not work against those that rapidly mutate (such as the flu). One of his principal scientists, Sarah Ives, is spearheading the development of a universal flu vaccine. They have done multiple animal studies on their research and believe the vaccine could eradicate influenza. He speaks out on how to build a company centered around research experiments and how his work so far has been promising. He hopes that his company can provide a vaccine that is accessible to all, even to those citizens who earn a low income. He is funding his company by himself at this moment. The Gates foundation and its fantastic record at trying to help global populations is brought up. He applied for the foundation to give him a grant and is anxiously waiting a response. In India, Dr. Dinesh Vijay, a pulmonologist, is trying to fight the rising number of flu outbreaks in Rajasthan. The SDMH Hospital was overrun with critical flu patients from smaller towns in the state of Rajasthan. He speaks about the swine flu and how it is a very rapid working disease. He states the common symptoms of the swine flu and stresses how an individual needs to seek help quickly to catch the illness early. He speaks about why he is a doctor and his parents’ influence on his choice to get his doctorate. His parents aside, the most priceless thing to him is ending the suffering of others.

Episode Two: Pandemic Is Now
In Oregon, Caylan Wagar homeschools her five children. She believes a healthy child can build up immunity naturally. As expected, she opposes the bill that says children should not be able to attend school or daycare if they do not have their vaccines. During the protest against the bill, Dr. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, a pediatrician and Oregon state senator, tries to make sure everyone gets immunization while avoiding the angry crowd. She believes that the fight against vaccines is one of the most dangerous concepts to occur in 2019. In Guatemala, Felipe Gomez’s family mourns their loss. They fear the flu and its implications because it led to the death of their loved one. It is likely he contracted the flu in a detention center while in US custody. In Arizona, Susan Flis is a retired nurse who is volunteering to help migrants arriving at the US border. Immigrants usually stay in the shelter for two nights before leaving and they receive flu shots from Flis. Eve Shapiro, a pediatrician, started a program to give migrants their flu shots. She observed migration protocol and realized the probability of contracting the flu or another illness during the process is very high. Jake has an internship program that gives students learning opportunities in the biotech industry. He wants to get all the different versions of the flu and put them into a vaccine, so it wipes out all the strains at once. He speaks to his interns about the thought process behind making his company and how he is trying to make the vaccine. Sarah Ives is updating the rest of the Distributed Bio teams about the universal vaccine project. She mentions that she and Jake have tested the vaccines on pigs in Guatemala. This pig study made them realize that the vaccine works. However, the vaccine requires seven shots to produce the result they want, so they are now trying to determine how to lessen the shot amount to one. Syra speaks about the things that classify a special pathogen to be one in a meeting. She stresses on how quickly a virus can spread and how, if someone with the flu goes to New York, the entire country could be infected in as little as a month. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, individuals are working to contain the Ebola virus. Dr. Michel Yao has been tasked by the World Health Organization to contain the current Ebola outbreak. The risk of Ebola travelling to Goma is very high due to population movement. The objective is to move faster than the disease and determine who has the illness and isolate them as quickly as possible. Dennis explains how Ebola was very deadly in 2014-2016, but, for the most part, was localized in three countries in West Africa. The Swine Flu, however, spread around the world in the time span of twelve months. There is also a team of individuals in Africa fighting and killing those who are trying to fend off the disease.

Episode Three: Seek, Don't Hide
As the swine flu starts to spread, schools in the United States begin to close due to small attendance rates. The health minister in India orders for randomized door-to-door health screenings of all citizens in the city of Rajasthan, which is infected with the swine flu. The Indian government and community are mostly unprepared to fight a sudden outbreak like the influenza virus, as seen by argument that took place between government officials in India regarding the protocols to take when the virus erupts. Researchers around the world test animals such as birds and bats to see if they carry the flu. Doctors are working overtime to help treat and contain the virus. Scientists around the globe provide efforts to contain the virus.

Episode Four: Hold On to Your Roots
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ebola outbreak has gotten worse – as have the threatening attacks against the vaccine team. Michel feels as if he will be in danger in the rural areas of where he is going because of how distrusting the environment is. He works to ensure that, if there is a hospital case of Ebola, it will not spread or affect the practitioners. During the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, over 600 health care workers were infected and more than half of those individuals died. The Ministry of Health requests an emergency meeting with Michel. There they say it is possible for there to be a positive Ebola case in Goma and that it would most likely not be handled efficiently. The viewers gain insight into Michel’s home life and how he misses a lot of his children’s lives because of his job. Syra Madad pioneers another phone call update on pathogens (more specifically the flu) in regions around New York. She speaks about them needing funding to train individuals to determine if patients have illnesses, such as measles that had recently broken out. However, it is difficult to gain funds with government cuts. Therefore, she and the New York senator sit down to discuss those funds as well as the influence of anti-vaxxers. In Oregon, Caylan holds a meeting of her own in which she sits down with more anti-vaxxers to discuss their stance on vaccinations and the implications the bill has for their livelihoods. Senator Steiner is in a congressional meeting about House Bill 3063. She says that the intention of the bill is to protect children in school settings. In order to bring back some Democrats that left the Senate, the bill was put to rest. Meanwhile, Susan continues her efforts in volunteering in the migration post. She says that they did not have access to the vaccine for two weeks, which made individuals vulnerable to the flu during that time. It is now nearing the end of the flu season and Susan is providing vaccinations to all the migrants she can. She leaves the monastery to spend time with family, but not before giving the immigrants clothes. Sarah and Jake are in Guatemala, making strides in the vaccine project and making sure everything goes according to plan. They are setting up a lab in Guatemala and are working to publish their vaccine paper. Sarah speaks about her childhood and about her love for science and being on stage. Jake talks about his parents and his childhood and how that affected where he is now. He talks about growing up in a community where people were constantly sick because of a lack of vaccinations in Guatemala. In Rajasthan, Anupriya Aggarwal, a second-year medical resident, and Dr. Vijay are on their way to a free clinic for the underprivileged. They speak about how the poor are less suitable to fight off the flu due to malnutrition, overcrowding, and more. They also tend to ignore that they tested positive for the flu to not miss work. They transport a pregnant woman to the hospital to see if she tests positive for influenza. She tested negative for the swine flu.

Episode Five: Prayers Might Work
In Oklahoma, Dr. Goracke speaks about faith in medicine as well as in spiritual entities. She believes that medicine leads a path to God. She speaks about religion with her children and the absence of God in her daughter’s life. In Goma, Dr. Michel Yao speaks about Ebola in a church to try to raise community morale in order to fight the pandemic. Many people believe the team brought Ebola into the community and, because of that, resent those trying to fight against the disease. In Egypt, Dr. Ghazi Kayali makes dinner for his family and coworkers. They speak of an influenza virus in Cairo and how to monitor it and try to contain it. He speaks about how the avian flu came to be and how the first case caused negative implications in Egypt. In Guatemala, Jake and Sarah continue to try to lower their vaccine rate to just one vaccine for all strains of influenza. They describe how their study works on the pigs along with the details of their trials. They also express concern about funding. Jake and Sarah begin their final vaccine test in Guatemala. This test will determine if the vaccines can be delivered in fewer doses to pigs. In New York, Syra Madad is overseeing an Ebola Activation drill at a local hospital. She indicates how patients like this require a high response because of the great danger the illness possesses.

Episode Six: Don't Stop Now
Jake and Sarah receive an email from the Gates Foundation which notifies them that they received full funding for their research on the new vaccine. They get the results from the pig study that indicates a stronger response rate for the pigs in lesser doses. Their experiment succeeded. They are now able to do pilot studies in the UK and later can commence human trials. In Oklahoma, Dr. Goracke is dealing with sicker patients. Dr. Goracke begins to feel sick after dealing with patients and ends up contacting the flu. She reflects on the advice she gives her patients and how her lifestyle does not coincide with it. She performs a 72-hour shift, while still recovering from the flu, and is filled with fatigue. She wonders how her job is negatively impacting her and her family. She decides to quit working at Jefferson County Hospital. In Rajasthan, there is a huge rise in swine flu. Dr. Aggarwal and Dr. Vijay are swarmed with patients with the flu. They speak about the worries that come with losing a patient. Dr. Vijay speaks about the importance of how you talk to patients. Syra Madad speaks about her religion. Going to Muslim prayers and events matter to her yet she has had less time. She speaks about starting the Global Health Center, recruiting professionals that know how to deal with “patient 0,” and more. She visits more senators and government officials about the Global Health Center.

Director and Producers
Doug Shultz is the main cinematographer for this show. He is a Peabody and Emmy-award winning filmmaker. His contributions to the industry have been played in over sixty film festivals and have been broadcasted on major outlets. He is also the founder of Black Licorice Pictures, a company that films and produces narrative work on all platforms.

Chris Aiola is one of the producers for the documentary. He is a New York based producer who has worked in non-scripted reality, documentary, and competition series'.

Sheri Fink is a New York Times best-selling author and executive producer. In 2015 she won the Pulitzer prize for international reporting. She was also the recipient of the George Polk Award for health reporting. She recieved her M.D. and PhD from Stanford University.

Critical Reception
Although some negative reviews have been shown since the first season's release, the documentary has had congratulatory reviews, especially since the show debuted among the peak of the Coronavirus. Critics believe this documentary highlights the important issue of pandemic outbreaks and how they come to be.