Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » Bazell Speaks at Feinberg Lecture
Uncategorized

Bazell Speaks at Feinberg Lecture

By medwebNov 1, 2004
Share
Facebook Twitter Email

Feinberg Lecture Features NBC’s Robert Bazell

robert bazell at podiumThis year’s shortage of the flu vaccine has once again highlighted a potential public health threat that shouldn’t be taken lightly, according to Robert Bazell, chief health and science correspondent for NBC News and a regular contributor to NBC Nightly News, Today, and Dateline NBC. Bazell spoke at the 9th annual Frances Feinberg Memorial Lecture held November 15 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on the topic of “Medicine and the Media: Deciding How Much Is Too Much?”

In 1982 Bazell reported on a little known illness that had killed 414 people. That disease was AIDS. Today 58 million people in the world are infected with HIV. Remarked Bazell, “The rise of this disease is an astounding event that has happened just in our time.” Bazell contends that another public health concern warrants attention before it, too, gets out of hand. In his estimation, both the media and society have underreacted to a potential influenza outbreak of serious proportions.

“On average there are 36,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations due to the flu each year in the United States,” stated Bazell. “These are amazing numbers. Why are we not thinking about this as a serious problem?” The World Health Organization, in fact, called for the first time a summit meeting of flu vaccine makers and nations in early November to discuss the possibility of a flu pandemic. With cases of bird flu popping up in Asia, experts worry about rapidly mutating viruses that make the leap from animals to humans. Said Bazell, “People who study this phenomenon say it is not if but when there will be another flu pandemic.”

The worst outbreak of influenza occurred in 1918, when more than 500,000 people died in the United States and 50 million worldwide. Almost half of those who caught the flu bug of 1918 were young, healthy adults—among them Bazell’s maternal grandfather who fell ill to the disease and died.

Citing studies demonstrating the benefit of regular flu vaccinations, Bazell feels that the media has helped increase public awareness and encouraged people to get vaccinated. However, more needs to be done to protect the public’s health against the flu—a responsibility that belongs to the government, asserted Bazell.

“We have a situation in which what should be a government function has been relegated to private enterprise. The problem is that manufacturing flu vaccine is not profitable,” he explained. “To ensure that there is an adequate supply, the government can either make it or guarantee that there is a market for it, for example, by buying lots of unused vaccine.”

While the flu season has gotten off to a slow start, Bazell fears that it could pick up and that it will take media coverage of people dying to prompt solutions to a problem that can and should be fixed as soon as possible.

“It often takes a crisis to get people to pay attention,” concluded Bazell. “Let’s all do our best for prevention.”

Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Lurie Cancer Center Receives Merit Extension from NCI

Oct 20, 2021

Drug Combination May Reduce Risk of Leukemia Relapse

Mar 26, 2020

Rewriting the Role of a Transcription Factor

Mar 19, 2020

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Workshop Teaches Medical Students Diagnosis Skills in Dermatology

Feb 7, 2023

Genetic Variations Influence Drug Metabolism in Patients of African Descent

Feb 7, 2023

Potential Therapeutic Target for Schizophrenia Identified 

Feb 6, 2023

Longtime Alcohol Consumption Speeds Up Biological Aging 

Feb 3, 2023

Grant Provides Imaging Technology to Department of Ophthalmology

Feb 2, 2023
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-24
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-16
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-14
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-5
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-6
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-10
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-8
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-18
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-23
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-25
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-26

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2023 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.