This Week in Virology TWiV 1277: Vaccine talk with Jake Scott
Dec 7, 2025
Jake Scott, an infectious diseases physician and clinical associate professor at Stanford, dives into the troubling landscape of anti-vaccine rhetoric in the U.S. He dismantles misconceptions pushed by figures like RFK Jr., clarifying childhood vaccine doses and vaccine development impacts. Scott highlights the role of VAERS in public health and explains why saline placebo narratives are flawed. He also shares insights from his Senate testimony and stresses the need for clear science communication to combat misinformation.
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Publish Transparent Trial Catalogs
- Build and publish transparent, verifiable vaccine trial catalogs to cut through slogans and misinformation.
- Provide links and trial details so anyone can check claims directly and avoid debates based on soundbites.
Placebo ≠ Always Saline
- 'Placebo' in trials can legitimately mean many inert vehicle types, not only saline.
- Ethical and practical constraints often require comparator vaccines or excipient controls rather than pure saline.
Trials Need Post‑Licensure Surveillance
- Randomized controlled trials cannot reliably detect extremely rare adverse events because of limited size and follow-up.
- Robust post-licensure systems (VAERS, VSD, PRISM) are essential to detect and evaluate rare safety signals.