1 00:00:00,515 --> 00:00:02,932 (soft music) 2 00:00:08,275 --> 00:00:09,500 - So in January of 2020, 3 00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:12,850 I was teaching my fourth year medical virology course. 4 00:00:12,850 --> 00:00:15,940 And I was aware that there was this new respiratory virus 5 00:00:15,940 --> 00:00:17,840 that was infecting people in China 6 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:19,260 and spreading rather quickly. 7 00:00:19,260 --> 00:00:23,470 And so, as a class, we would watch this red dot in China 8 00:00:23,470 --> 00:00:24,530 get bigger and bigger 9 00:00:24,530 --> 00:00:26,500 and then these new red dots were showing up 10 00:00:26,500 --> 00:00:27,540 in all these other countries 11 00:00:27,540 --> 00:00:30,510 and we kept asking, when is it gonna show up in Canada? 12 00:00:30,510 --> 00:00:35,510 - I think my moment was when the virus jumped from China 13 00:00:36,210 --> 00:00:40,300 to Iran and Italy in very short succession. 14 00:00:40,300 --> 00:00:44,520 - I think the data became scary at the beginning of March 15 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:47,550 where certainly more countries started to become affected, 16 00:00:47,550 --> 00:00:50,750 nothing was being done particularly aggressively 17 00:00:50,750 --> 00:00:51,730 at that time. 18 00:00:51,730 --> 00:00:55,033 And then the shutdown happened and it kind of became real. 19 00:00:55,870 --> 00:00:58,240 - [Man] We've always said, there's a pandemic virus 20 00:00:58,240 --> 00:00:59,073 out there. 21 00:00:59,073 --> 00:00:59,906 It's going to happen again. 22 00:00:59,906 --> 00:01:02,870 And we've seen examples and I think we got overconfident. 23 00:01:02,870 --> 00:01:04,520 We had SARS that was controlled. 24 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:06,480 We had another Coronavirus, MERS, 25 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,700 Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, that was controlled. 26 00:01:09,700 --> 00:01:12,400 And I think we've assumed that we can control things. 27 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,050 And we've realized that we can't. 28 00:01:15,050 --> 00:01:16,860 - [Woman] The planning that needed to be done 29 00:01:16,860 --> 00:01:20,970 before the disease came to our borders, 30 00:01:20,970 --> 00:01:22,423 did not seem to be done. 31 00:01:23,370 --> 00:01:26,320 - I think people realize now that any infectious disease 32 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:27,786 or emerging infectious disease can affect 33 00:01:27,786 --> 00:01:29,076 any part of the world. 34 00:01:29,076 --> 00:01:32,030 And also it can emerge from any type of species. 35 00:01:32,030 --> 00:01:33,400 I mean, who would have thought that MERS 36 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,650 could be transmitted from bats to camels to people. 37 00:01:36,650 --> 00:01:39,330 So you can't rule out any animal species 38 00:01:39,330 --> 00:01:41,530 and you can't rule out the fact that it can affect 39 00:01:41,530 --> 00:01:42,630 any part of the world. 40 00:01:48,810 --> 00:01:53,530 - One Health, to me, is a collaborative approach 41 00:01:53,530 --> 00:01:55,270 among multiple disciplines, 42 00:01:55,270 --> 00:01:57,460 as well as other societal actors, 43 00:01:57,460 --> 00:01:58,930 so community members, 44 00:01:58,930 --> 00:02:01,390 potentially politicians, those in industries, 45 00:02:01,390 --> 00:02:04,853 and essentially looking at complex or wicked problems 46 00:02:04,853 --> 00:02:08,380 that occur at the intersection of human, animal 47 00:02:08,380 --> 00:02:09,930 and environmental health. 48 00:02:09,930 --> 00:02:11,980 - Zoonotic infections are a prime example 49 00:02:11,980 --> 00:02:13,390 of the One Health concept. 50 00:02:13,390 --> 00:02:15,670 We are destroying habitat, 51 00:02:15,670 --> 00:02:18,210 and that means that humans and animals 52 00:02:18,210 --> 00:02:19,710 are coming into closer contact. 53 00:02:19,710 --> 00:02:21,200 The more you destroy the habitat, 54 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,640 the more likely you are to have this interaction. 55 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:29,210 And then, you know, again, it could transmit human to human. 56 00:02:29,210 --> 00:02:31,700 - This pandemic's also showing how we need 57 00:02:31,700 --> 00:02:35,290 this broad intersect or approach to infectious diseases. 58 00:02:35,290 --> 00:02:38,750 It can't just be medicine and veterinary medicine, 59 00:02:38,750 --> 00:02:40,200 and it can't just be science. 60 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,220 It has to be a social science, its behavior. 61 00:02:42,220 --> 00:02:44,060 The bigger challenges we're dealing with now 62 00:02:44,060 --> 00:02:46,470 are things like vaccine hesitancy. 63 00:02:46,470 --> 00:02:50,850 - I understand vaccine hesitancy to stem from mistrust. 64 00:02:50,850 --> 00:02:53,050 If we don't have buy-in from the public, 65 00:02:53,050 --> 00:02:54,970 if they don't trust the product, 66 00:02:54,970 --> 00:02:57,970 if they don't trust the policy makers and the providers, 67 00:02:57,970 --> 00:03:02,480 then the best vaccines may never make it into people's arms. 68 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:04,900 We have a lot of access to media 69 00:03:04,900 --> 00:03:08,230 and many of us have a lot of time to spend on the internet. 70 00:03:08,230 --> 00:03:11,170 And we got to see the mess of science, 71 00:03:11,170 --> 00:03:13,880 what it looks like before things are established, 72 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,080 before things are settled. 73 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:17,330 There will be people that say, 74 00:03:17,330 --> 00:03:18,960 "You see the scientists don't know 75 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:20,350 what they're talking about". 76 00:03:20,350 --> 00:03:23,210 When it might be the case that they are changing 77 00:03:23,210 --> 00:03:25,410 their directives in light of new evidence. 78 00:03:25,410 --> 00:03:27,530 And that's a sign of good science. 79 00:03:27,530 --> 00:03:29,410 - I found the University of Guelph 80 00:03:29,410 --> 00:03:31,780 to be extraordinarily collaborative, 81 00:03:31,780 --> 00:03:35,490 a really a great environment to build relationships 82 00:03:35,490 --> 00:03:37,300 and do work with other researchers 83 00:03:37,300 --> 00:03:39,410 outside of your own discipline. 84 00:03:39,410 --> 00:03:41,880 I think we also have a really unique combination 85 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:43,160 of expertise here. 86 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,350 We have the veterinary college and One Health 87 00:03:45,350 --> 00:03:49,140 has really taken leadership out of the veterinary field. 88 00:03:49,140 --> 00:03:51,500 We have, you know, the Agricultural College 89 00:03:51,500 --> 00:03:53,110 strong biological sciences, 90 00:03:53,110 --> 00:03:55,020 strong environmental focus, 91 00:03:55,020 --> 00:03:56,870 and then really strong social science, 92 00:03:56,870 --> 00:03:59,460 which is incredibly important when we think about 93 00:03:59,460 --> 00:04:01,390 the entire One Health approach. 94 00:04:01,390 --> 00:04:04,580 - Our research actually has expanded considerably 95 00:04:04,580 --> 00:04:07,900 after we demonstrated that our vaccine platform 96 00:04:07,900 --> 00:04:09,460 works against SARS-CoV-2. 97 00:04:09,460 --> 00:04:12,560 This is actually kind of taking the One Health approach 98 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:13,930 and flipping on its side. 99 00:04:13,930 --> 00:04:15,550 We're taking an animal pathogen 100 00:04:15,550 --> 00:04:19,300 and turning it into a benign vaccine vector, 101 00:04:19,300 --> 00:04:20,660 which can protect humans. 102 00:04:20,660 --> 00:04:22,800 But interestingly, we can also use this vaccine 103 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:24,470 to vaccinate production animals. 104 00:04:24,470 --> 00:04:26,810 - Optimizing this vaccine platform, 105 00:04:26,810 --> 00:04:30,810 I first and foremost, feel grateful and honored 106 00:04:30,810 --> 00:04:32,280 to be a part of this team. 107 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:35,680 The University of Guelph plays a significant role 108 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,320 in the prevention of the next pandemic. 109 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:40,950 Just incorporating or being a part of One Health 110 00:04:40,950 --> 00:04:42,950 is the first step towards that. 111 00:04:42,950 --> 00:04:44,850 - My work just deals with infectious diseases 112 00:04:44,850 --> 00:04:46,930 and we're always on the lookout for something new. 113 00:04:46,930 --> 00:04:48,570 We really focus on that interface 114 00:04:48,570 --> 00:04:49,970 between humans and animals. 115 00:04:49,970 --> 00:04:51,950 So we track current diseases, 116 00:04:51,950 --> 00:04:54,610 we track what we think are emerging diseases 117 00:04:54,610 --> 00:04:57,150 and we track things that are just unusual. 118 00:04:57,150 --> 00:04:59,940 - I think my research can help us prepare 119 00:04:59,940 --> 00:05:03,780 for the next pandemic in really providing more evidence 120 00:05:03,780 --> 00:05:05,670 and continuing the conversation 121 00:05:05,670 --> 00:05:10,040 on how important the environment and environmental health 122 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,030 and wildlife health are in preventing 123 00:05:13,030 --> 00:05:16,130 any kind of disease event that we might see. 124 00:05:16,130 --> 00:05:19,600 - Health requires this kind of broad perspective. 125 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,330 And there isn't one discipline or one researcher 126 00:05:23,330 --> 00:05:25,840 that can bring in all the necessary perspectives 127 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:27,520 and all the necessary tools. 128 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:32,110 - I think if we reflect on the entire situation 129 00:05:32,110 --> 00:05:35,500 with the pandemic and embrace a One Health approach 130 00:05:35,500 --> 00:05:37,860 in our pandemic preparedness, 131 00:05:37,860 --> 00:05:40,017 we can be prepared for the next one. 132 00:05:40,915 --> 00:05:43,332 (soft music)