I Never Talked About Vaccines Publicly. Then President Trump Held a Press Conference.

Less than 24 hours before I sat down with Ray Kober on Broken Healthcare Podcast, the President of the United States said things out loud that I had only ever said in private.

I have been careful about vaccines - not because I don’t have thoughts.

I have a lot of thoughts.

I’ve watched hundreds of hours of ACIP meetings. I’ve read the studies. I practiced emergency medicine through Covid. I’ve sat across from mothers telling me what happened to their child at a well-visit and then watched myself say the words “the CDC says vaccines are safe and effective” because that was what I was trained to say, and I didn’t have much better to offer.

I have been careful because the cost of not being careful in this particular conversation (even simply admitting that we don’t know what we don’t know), has historically cost your career, your credibility, and your inbox.

I wrote about it once, carefully, and the response was instructive.

Then President Trump walked up to a podium with Marty Makary, Jay Bhattacharya, Dr. Oz, and Dorothy Fink and said what many of us have been thinking for years. That there seem to be some things we don’t fully know. That the effects of one va…