21 Best Pandemic Podcasts to Listen to (2026)

A weekly report on the COVID-19 pandemic from infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH. Dr. Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota and has spent a career investigating outbreaks. Since 2005, he has emphasized supply chain and other vulnerabilities and a critical need for pandemic preparedness. In this podcast, Dr. Osterholm dissects the latest COVID-19 news, data, and guidance.CIDRAP's Chris Dall, MA, is the cohost of the Osterholm Update and a reporter for CIDRAP News. http://www.cidrap.umn.edu more

Public Health is Dead is an award-winning public health advocacy show. It's a forward-thinking autopsy on how we've f*cked up in public health. How do we prepare for future pandemics while we're already in the thick of one? And how do we reinvent systems that place some of us closer to death? Through examining our past successes and failures, often through the lens of COVID, we plot a route out of apathy and denial towards health liberation for all. You'll hear unusual tales of how we've battled infectious disease throughout history and mind-stretching interviews with undaunted public health advocates today. This podcast is your anti-establishment field guide to surviving in the new age of pandemics — full of vision, hope, and a little punk rock attitude. Public Health is Dead is a eulogy for the field as we know it and a gathering of voices to map out where we go next. *** Public Health is Dead is a 2025 Signal Award-winning podcast for Best Education Podcast (Gold) and Best Science Podcast (Silver). It also won Gold at the W3 Awards in Science & Technology and was nominated in the 2025 International Women's Podcast Awards for 'Moment of Factual Clarity' and 3x in the 2025 Canadian Podcast Awards for Outstanding Debut for a Series, Outstanding Science Series, and Outstanding Health & Wellness Series. *** Visit publichealthisdead.com for more information more

Full coverage of the Covid Inquiry as it takes evidence. With Jim Reed, Vanessa Clarke, Divya Talwar, Lorna Gordon, Hywel Griffith and Jennifer O'Leary. more

This Week in Virology is a netcast about viruses - the kind that make you sick.

Evidence and experts to help you understand today's public health news—and what it means for tomorrow.

Conversations with experts and frontline clinicians about the COVID-19 pandemic, hosted by editors from the JAMA Network. more

The CommonHealth is the podcast of the CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security. On The CommonHealth, hosts J. Stephen Morrison and Katherine Bliss delve deeply into the puzzle that connects pandemic preparedness and response, HIV/AIDS, routine immunization, and primary care, areas of huge import to human and national security. The CommonHealth replaces under a single podcast the Coronavirus Crisis Update, Pandemic Planet and AIDS Existential Moment. Produced by Marla Hiller. more

Our podcast delves deep into the dark side of the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing how influential doctors shaped the narrative.📖 A Movement in the Making: 'We Want Them Infected' isn't just a book; it's a call to action, exposing how the anti-vaccine movement infiltrated mainstream culture.Join us on this journey of discovering the impact of misinformation on public health, trust in science, and more. more

Emergency Room: The Covid Diaries, is a true-life look behind the headlines first-hand account of what it was like behind the scenes at a major American hospital as the Covid-19 pandemic swept through the United States as seen by nurses and doctors who dealt with the unprecedented crisis every day.Told through the eyes of Guy Maddison, a Registered Nurse at a level one trauma center in Seattle, Washington, Emergency Room tracks the on-the-ground medical response as the virus arrived on US shores. We learn about the massive operations required to protect healthcare workers and the public from the disease, the personal fears and anxieties of patients and staff, and what went right and what went horribly wrong.Anchored by journalist Matthew Hall, who steers us through the often harrowing and sometimes humorous journey asking the questions medical and epidemiology newbies want to know and help explain why this story remains as relevant today as April 2020. more

A lethal virus. A drastic lockdown. A nation turned upside down. Quarantine Nation is an eight-part narrative series that revisits the Covid-19 pandemic with the benefit of hindsight and powerful interviews. From the corridors of power to hospital wards, managed isolation hotels and kitchen tables, it traces how New Zealand responded when the Sars-CoV-2 virus started spreading.Through in-depth conversations with decision-makers, scientists, frontline health workers and ordinary New Zealanders, the series examines what worked, what failed, and the unintended consequences that followed. Memories of sourdough starters, Netflix binges and daily press conferences may fade, but the scars of the pandemic remain, so Quarantine Nation asks what the pandemic taught us about ourselves, and how it continues to affect us.Plus, don't miss the theme tune by Jack Buchanan, maker of the global viral Covid hit, Family Lockdown Boogie. Each episode features a different verse.Made with the support of NZ on Air for Stuff by Te Pūrongo Productions.See www.stuff.co.nz/QN for extra videos and articles. more

Exploring the science, history and sociology of the most significant diseases and pandemics throughout human history. Keith Sumey, MD will give insight, through the lens of an ER physician, of how disease impacts humanity. more

Science in 5 is WHO's conversations in science. Listen to WHO experts explaining science related to COVID-19.

Covering infectious diseases through history from plague to COVID-19.

A weekly update on new research and developments concerning COVID-19 (and occasionally other infectious diseases that hit the news).We take questions via call-in during the live broadcast, Mondays at 7:33am Pacific, streaming via kpfa.org. Podcasts with show notes go up later the same day. Between live shows, we take questions via email at ****@kpfa.org .Our guest most weeks is Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. Our question-wrangler most weeks is Brian Edwards-Tiekert, host of KPFA's morning public affairs program, UpFront. Music: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License. more

This podcast started with a simple purpose: to explain in easy to understand terms information surrounding coronavirus as the news developed with hundreds of installments, it now serves as an audio diary of the pandemic as it happened. Its video partner is 'A Doctor in The Pandemic' on YouTube is on the Dr Brian McDonough Channel as well as Spotify. The Dr. Brian McDonough Show was a natural evolution as it became apparent as pandemic turned endemic we needed distractions as well as critical information. Helpful advice will always remain but escapism is also good for our overall health. more

It's been 40 years since AIDS was first reported and we now live in a world where AIDS has become old news: the forgotten pandemic. HIV unmuted, the IAS - International AIDS Society - podcast, brings together global HIV change-makers as we journey through the last four decades, recreating moments in time and spotlighting the scientific advancements and human endeavours central to the response. Together, we'll reflect on our past, focus on our present and look to the future. This is HIV unmuted. Join us. more

Florian Krammer is a virologist and vaccine developer. In his podcast viroLOGICAL he will talk about viruses on a weekly basis from historical pandemics to current developments.A Podcastwerkstatt Original produced between New York and Vienna.Photocredit: Medical University of Vienna/feelimage more

Podcasts evolve. So do viruses and other biological threats. In response, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at Atlantic Council has taken its examination of scenarios involving biological weapons, accidents, and naturally occurring pandemics to the next level and created The Biollywood Podcast. In this podcast, we talk about biological threats and the popular culture media they appear in. Learn more about the Commission at https://biodefensecommission.org/ Artistic Direction by Nate X. O'Brien more

In March 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared the SARS-COV-2 infection outbreak a global pandemic, spurring one of the greatest public health crises and education efforts in recent history. And while there have been several victories in the battle against this global pandemic, such as the widespread adoption of telehealth and the development of COVID-19 vaccines, many questions still remain.That's why our COVID-19: On the Frontlines series features infectious disease physicians and public health education experts from around the world to bring you the latest news on COVID-19 vaccines, clinical practice updates, and research from clinical trials so that we can continue to keep our patients safe amid this global pandemic and beyond. more

In November 2020, my brother Mateo contracted Covid-19 like so many of us did.  But unlike most of us…he hasn't yet recovered.  Mateo is now what is known as a Long Hauler, and right now around the world, it is unknown how many others can say the same ('lots' according to Mateo).  In that time, he has been documenting his ups, downs, victories and setbacks through journals, medical records and love letters to You the listener.  And if he's come to one conclusion, it is that Covid is Stoopid… more

The Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics, part of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, presents Off Script. more