Making Sense with Sam Harris

#256 — A Contagion of Bad Ideas

Jul 23, 2021

Eric Topol, a prominent cardiologist and medical researcher, joins to discuss pressing vaccine hesitancy issues. They explore how misinformation fuels public skepticism, especially regarding mRNA vaccines and their efficacy. The conversation highlights the dangers of political silos and the misuse of reporting systems like VAERS. Topol emphasizes the urgency of accurate data interpretation to combat misconceptions surrounding vaccines and the need for rebuilding trust in public health systems.

01:26:55

Creator website

Episode guests

Eric Topol

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

The Kaiser Family Foundation Vaccine Monitoring Website

01:03

The Long Term Effects of Vaccines

00:40

The Largest Vaccine and Disease Experiment Ever Run

01:10

Intro

3min

Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy and Misinformation

12min

Understanding Vaccine Hesitancy

15min

Understanding COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy

19min

Conspiracies and COVID Treatments

8min

Navigating Misinformation in the Digital Age

20min

Delays and Challenges in FDA Vaccine Authorization

2min

Rebuilding Trust in Public Health

7min

Sam Harris speaks with Eric Topol about vaccine hesitancy and related misinformation. They discuss the problem of political and social siloing, concerns about mRNA vaccines, the Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA, the effectiveness of the COVID vaccines, vaccine efficacy vs effectiveness, the Delta variant, the misuse of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), concerns about long-term side effects from vaccines, bad incentives in medicine, ivermectin, government and corporate censorship, vaccine mandates, and other topics.

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