‘The Invisible Shield’ aims to make public health more visible

There’s a saying that members of a football team’s offensive line don’t get much credit when they do a great job protecting the quarterback. They only seem to be mentioned when the offensive line makes mistakes and gets penalized. Well, the same could be said for public health. Here’s why a new TV series on public health is called The Invisible Shield. This four-episode series will debut on PBS on March 26 at 10 p.m. and can bring greater visibility to the importance of public health to you and those 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 receives, the fact that there is a lot of talk about what celebrities are wearing, which politicians are saying what and who is selling which products that you don’t really need. As Kelly Henning, MD, who is the Head of the Public Health Program for Bloomberg Philanthropies and appears in its first episode The Invisible Shield, explained, “The better public health works, the less likely you are to see it.” The tragedy, though, is that this “invisible shield” has been crumbling for years, and most people can’t even see it because the public health system is, you know, largely invisible to them.

The Covid-19 pandemic should have revealed once and for all how chronically underfunded, undervalued and underwater public health systems have been for years. If the public health system had much more resources and support to deal with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), imagine how many lives could be saved and how much more suffering could be prevented. Political and business leaders acknowledged this for, oh, maybe a moment or two, before going back to talking about some of their favorite topics, like themselves.

In fact, several such leaders have made matters worse by propagating misinformation and disinformation about public health. So even though public health received a little more positive attention for a short period of time during the pandemic, the required amount of resources didn’t really follow. So what will it take for everyone to realize that the public health system needs a lot more support? Does it take an even bigger disaster 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 asking yourself, “Hmm, maybe it would be a good idea to install some smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and water sprinklers.”

Not waiting for another disaster to happen is the reasoning behind this series Radical Media produced with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Their goal was to pay more attention to public health. With so many celebrities, influencers, politicians and businesses constantly promoting themselves and their products, public health and the lack of marketing machines can get lost in the cacophony. And that can result in people underestimating the huge impact public health has had on everyone’s lives. Think about it. If it weren’t for public health achievements like vaccination, antibiotics, clean water supplies, and anti-pollution efforts, you’d be here today buying everyone’s hype and products. “Public health saved your life today, but you didn’t even know it,” as Josh Sharfstein, MDthe distinguished professor of practice at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health stated in the trailer below for The Invisible Shield:

Now, four episodes is nowhere near the number of episodes to really break down everything that public health has done for you over the years. Well, even Zack Snyder’s 2021 Justice League The movie was four hours and two minutes, although it felt like six hours and might not do anything for you. The first episode titled ‘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 has sought to apply lessons learned from previous epidemics and pandemics to address the Covid-19 pandemic. But more on that in a bit.

Episode 2 is called “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 analytics have played in assisting public health. And it will confirm the need for much more of them in the future. Without adequate resources and technology, public health systems will continue to struggle to find the best solutions.

Next up will be episode 3, which is titled “Inoculation & Inequity”. This will re-examine two big awful things that have really hurt our entire society: the spread of misinformation and disinformation about science and health, and the ongoing injustices and inequities that many women, people of color, immigrants, people of different sexual orientations, and other minorities face . As you have probably seen, several politicians and business leaders have politicized the Covid-19 pandemic, putting personal gain over the public. This really hampered the ability of the public health system to fight SARS-CoV-2.

Finally, episode 4, “The New Playbook,” will look to the future and discuss what might change. After years of increasing life expectancy, life expectancy in the US began to decline before the Covid-19 pandemic. With all the aforementioned challenges, things could get worse if big changes aren’t made.

Before you treat this series like a drug and think, “I have to get this,” the series is not only informative but also fun and engaging to watch on its own. 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 a skeptic of Covid-19 vaccines to a believer after meeting Anthony Chen, MD, Health Director Emeritus for the Department of Health of Tacoma-Pierce County. “It makes public health easier to understand,” Henning said. “People will want to watch it.”

Henning also hopes the series’ exposure will continue well beyond its initial run: “We’d like to see it used extensively by students, colleges and other educational guides,” he said. “It can help increase understanding of public health goals and help people get involved.” And maybe The Invisible Shield will cause more such public health TV series and movies to be made. After all, it’s time to make the shield that has been protecting everyone all this time more visible.