There’s a saying that members of a football team’s offensive line don’t get much recognition when they are doing a great job protecting the quarterback. They seem to get mentioned only when the offensive line make mistakes and get penalized. Well, the same could be said about public health. That’s why a new TV series about public health is called The Invisible Shield. This four-episode series will be making its PBS debut on March 26 at 10 pm and may bring more visibility to the importance of public health to you and everyone around you.
The “Shield” part of the title comes from the fact that every day the public health system and all its professionals work hard to protect everyone from a range of different health threats. The “Invisible” part refers to the lack of attention that the public health system gets, the fact that there’s a whole lot more talk about what celebrity is wearing what, which politicians is saying what and who is selling which products that you don’t really need. As Kelly Henning, MD, who is the Public Health Program Lead for Bloomberg Philanthropies and appears in the first episode of The Invisible Shield, explained, “The better public health works, the less likely you are to see it.” The tragic thing, though, is that this “invisible shield” has been crumbling for years, and most people can’t even see this because the public health system is, you know, in large part invisible to them.
The Covid-19 pandemic should have once and for all exposed how chronically underfunded, underappreciated and underwater public health systems have been for years. If the public health system had had much more resources and support to deal with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), imagine how many lives could been saved and how much more suffering could have been averted. Political and business leaders acknowledged this for, oh, maybe a moment or two, before going back to talking about some of their favorite subjects, like themselves.
In fact, a number of such leaders made things even worse by propagating misinformation and disinformation about public health. So, even though public health got a little more positive attention for a brief time during the pandemic, the requisite amount of resources did not really follow. What then will it take for everyone to realize that the public health system needs a whole lot more support? Might it take a disaster even bigger than the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent collapse of the public health system? That would be like waiting until your building burns down before wondering, “Hmm, maybe it would be a good idea to install some smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and water sprinklers.”
Not waiting until another disaster happens is the rationale behind this series that RadicalMedia produced with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Their aim was to bring more attention to public health. With so many celebrities, influencers, politicians and businesses constantly hyping themselves and their own products, public health and its lack of marketing machines can get lost in the cacophony. And that can result in people undervaluing the huge impact public health has had in everyone’s lives. Think about it. If weren’t for public health accomplishments such as vaccination, antibiotics, clean water supplies, and anti-pollution efforts, would you even be around today to buy into everyone’s hype and products. “Public health saved your life today but you didn’t even know it,” as Josh Sharfstein, MD, Distinguished Professor of the Practice at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health stated in the following trailer for The Invisible Shield:
Now, four episodes is nowhere near the number of episodes to really detail all that public health has done for you over the years. Heck, even Zack Snyder’s 2021 Justice League movie was four hours and two minutes, although it felt like six hours and may have done nothing for you. The first episode entitled “The Old Playbook” will cover how public health has helped double life expectancy since 1900 but also explains how the public system is currently at risk of collapsing in many ways. This includes showing how the public health system tried to apply lessons learned from prior epidemics and pandemics to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. But more on that in a bit.
Episode 2 bears the name “Follow the Data,” and you won’t need much data to figure out what this episode will cover. It will review the key role that data collection and analyses have played in helping public health. And it will make a case for the need for much more of these going forward. Without proper resources and technology, public health systems will continue to struggle to find the best solutions.
Next will be Episode 3, which is titled “Inoculation & Inequity.” This will review two major awful things that have been really hurting all of our society: the spread of misinformation and disinformation about science and health and the continuing injustices and inequities that many women, persons of color, immigrants, people of different sexual orientations and other minorities have been facing. As you have probably seen, a number of political and business leaders have politicized the heck out of the Covid-19 pandemic, putting personal gain over the public. This really hampered the ability of the public health system to combat the SARS-CoV-2.
Finally, Episode 4, “The New Playbook,” will look into the future and discuss what can be changed. After years of gains in life expectancy, life expectancy in the U.S. began dropping before the Covid-19 pandemic. With all of the aforementioned challenges, things could get worse unless big changes are made.
Before you treat this series like medicine and think, “Do I have to take this,” the series is not only informative but also fun and engaging to watch in it’s own right. It’s visually appealing and full of compelling stories like that of Gregory Christopher, Senior Pastor of Tacoma’s Shiloh Baptist Church, who went from being skeptical about Covid-19 vaccines to a believer after getting to know Anthony Chen, MD, Director of Health Emeritus for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. “It makes public health more understandable,” said Henning. “People will want to watch it.”
Henning also hopes that the viewing of the series continues well beyond its initial airing: “We would like to see this used extensively by students, colleges and other instructional guides,” she said. “It can help increase understanding of goals of public health and help people to get on board.” And maybe The Invisible Shield will prompt more such TV series and movies to be made about public health. After all, it’s time to make more visible the shield that has been protecting everyone all this time.
