Notable Vaccine Advocate and Expert Pays Virtual Visit to YSPH

The vaccines currently available for COVID-19 offer a clear path out of the ongoing pandemic, but there is a very real obstacle: the anti-science movement.

During a virtual lecture at the Yale School of Public Health in March, Peter Hotez, B.A. ’80, M.D., Ph.D., a leading virologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, outlined the stakes for public health as governments and health organizations attempt to administer vaccines for COVID-19 amid strong pushback from segments of the populations that are deeply skeptical.

Time, meanwhile, is of the essence, as variants appear and spread rapidly from country to country, continent to continent.

“I think we have our hands full,” Hotez, formerly a faculty member at the Yale School of Medicine, observed at the Frank Black Memorial Lecture, an annual event that honors Frank Black, a Yale School of Public Health faculty member from 1955 until his retirement in 1996. Black, Ph.D., was only the third scientist to use the measles vaccine in humans and pioneered the in vitro cultivation of the virus and tested the efficacy of measles vaccines in susceptible populations in both the United States and abroad.

Here is a selection of Hotez’s observations, opinions and prescriptions.

Indeed, Hotez cited the anti-science movement as one of the biggest drivers of this pandemic and others, along with factors such as war, climate change and rapid urbanization.

The anti-vaccine movement is deeply suspicious and rooted in skepticism and even outright denial of scientific evidence. The movement is big and seems to be getting bigger. In fact, the anti-vax movement has become a globalized, anti-science empire.

Vaccines may not filter to low- and middle-income countries in a timely fashion.

“My concern is that we are running out of options for global health.”

Vaccines may not work as well against some of the variants emerging in early 2021. “A number of us are wringing our hands on the best way to deal with this.”

Hotez is no stranger to autism. He wrote a book about his daughter, Rachel, who is on the autism spectrum, and argues that vaccines had nothing to do with her condition.

Hotez has been called the “original gangster villain” for his vaccine advocacy by some in the anti-vax movement. The internet and social media have helped accelerate the anti-vax movement, which has expanded into mask wearing and social distancing.

It is imperative to vaccinate Africa as soon as possible. Scale of what needs to be done: 1.1 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa needed to be vaccinated as of early March.

21st century drivers of pandemics include poverty, war, political instability, urbanization, deforestation, climate change and anti-science.

Most vaccine-hesitant groups are heavily composed of white Republicans and supporters of former President Donald Trump. There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, but there is a lot of anger among anti-vaccine advocates.

“These vaccines ultimately save your life.”

Hotez himself received the Pfizer vaccine, but advises: “Don’t overthink this. They all work the same way.”