Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak

So It's very interesting, science of the diseases, how pros work in the field, how researchers work... But they pack so much unrelated stuff there! Like there's lots and lots of talks about god, religion, lots of happy family time of every main character there, the actual pandemic related info is only like 10% of the series.

I want to watch it, because I want to learn more about pandemic in a video format, but they stuff it with so much filler, that I'm not sure I can continue..

First a quick review. This documentary takes on a great topic, then beats the hell out of it. The threat of a pandemic is real and seeing what is being done to help prevent it is interesting and educating. The people who work hard to help prevent widespread disease outbreaks are often motivated altruistically and use science as a main tool. You get to see a lot of this in the show, Which is good, but it tends to be redundant . You also get to see a lot of things you may not be expecting such as personal lives, descriptions of religious beliefs, extracurricular activities, etc. This may not be such a bad thing, but it is done to an extent that leaves the movie jumping between important scientific endeavor within the context of public health, and somewhat disjointed and rather uninteresting topics outside the realm of what the movie claims to be. A "6" is an honest ranking that doesn't pump it up, and doesn't push it too undeservedly low. Next, comments on the widely varying reviews. Because this movie/series Decides to touch on topics and ideas that are outside the realm of public health and safety, many reviewers seem to feel a need to criticize it for going against, or supporting certain political, religious, or other believes. Giving this show a 1/10 or a 10/10 rating is absolutely silly. It seems that anti-vaxers can't stand it because it goes directly against their "beliefs" regardless of reality and science. People giving it a 10 seem to be doing so simply because they don't like that some people gave it a low ranking. If you like good documentaries you'll probably feel it's ok, not great. if you are in public health or science in general, you may like it even more. If you're politically sensitive or anti-vaxer, you probably won't like it.

If I had watched when it first came out 2 months ago, I might not have watched the entire first episode. However, now it is the middle of March immediately after the President declared a National Health Emergency, and I watched the story lines being laid down in the first episode with great interest. These are not actors, they are real people. This is real life. This is about what has happened and what may be about to happen to each of us personally. What a great docuseries! I will probably binge watch this weekend...

I'm usually pretty generous with my ratings (not to the extreme, but I'll lean one star to the right when in doubt), but this just seemed way off to me. And, yes I watched the whole season. There was virtually very little to zero science. It was mostly a reality show following healthcare providers and researchers. The healthcare providers were just very generic (a doc in a rural community, one in a sort of refugee detainment center, etc.). Some of this was loosely tied to how hard it is to get flu vaccines in and funding in rural communities, but very loosely. If anything it started to feel more politically tied than flu/outbreak/pandemic related.

The real issue is after watching that entire season, I don't feel like I know that much more about the flu itself. What's being done to create vaccines? Other than one makeshift crew in San Fransisco we know nothing. How exactly does it mutate? Wasn't discussed that I heard. What makes one emergent strain more likely to spread than another? What do the "H" and the "N" along with the corresponding number mean when a virus is labeled? I really don't know.

Maybe if a reality show following people who work around the flu or work in prevention is what you're expecting you won't be disappointed. But I really was expecting more of a scientific documentary. And, to be honest, I wouldn't have minded the following of their stories if I'd felt I learned more about the flu and how to prevent an outbreak.

This has little to do with science or the flu. It's just a bunch of mini stories about people who work in the industry. This is cringe level stuff: the 45 year old guy who wears leather jackets and rides a skateboard. The young female scientist with a nose ring who seemingly knows nothing. The Indian woman who says she is working on 30 projects at once but pretends to feed her children each meal and read them bedtime stories after playing building games with them. If these are the people on the front lines, we're in deep trouble.