STAT I have spent my career caring for people facing some of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases — Ebola, mpox, Covid-19. I have worked in outbreak zones, in understaffed hospitals, in field units built out of necessity. I’ve seen firsthand how vaccines transform the trajectory of a disease, a community, and a country.
But nothing has prepared me for the exam room conversations I’m having now. Over the past few years, the rise of anti-science and anti-vaccine rhetoric has fundamentally changed the relationship between clinicians and patients. It has made routine preventive care feel like walking into an ideological minefield. Increasingly, it is making it harder and sometimes nearly impossible to protect patients’ health.
Fair Use Notice
UNMC Global Center for Health Security staff curate publicly available news and information for educational and informational purposes. Brief excerpts of published articles may be displayed under principles of Fair Use, with credit and links provided to the source publications. All copyrights remain the property of their respective owners.