Science & Society: Vaccines
Join us for an urgent conversation on vaccines, trust, and the fractures that have made immunization one of the most contested questions in America.
Vaccines have saved more lives than almost any other human invention. They’re so effective that the diseases they prevented all but disappeared from collective memory. Now, childhood immunization rates are falling. Measles, declared eliminated in 2000, is back. Federal agencies are being reshaped by officials who have questioned whether vaccines work at all. And a growing movement of influencers, parents, and politicians is challenging not just individual shots but the very idea that public health is a shared obligation.
So, where did this come from, what is actually going on, and what do we do about it? How did vaccines become one of the defining political fault lines of this moment—and how can trust in public health be repaired?
David Wallace-Wells, columnist and writer at The New York Times and author of The Uninhabitable Earth, hosts a conversation with Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, infectious disease physician and former director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Jessica Malaty Rivera, infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator whose research focuses on trust in public health.
Come early to engage with local community biology lab, Genspace, who will bring hands-on microscope stations, interactive displays, and a community question wall to invite visitors into an open conversation about vaccines and the immune system.
Science & Society: Vaccines responds to Jordan Eagles's concurrent exhibition Bases Loaded, on view in the 3rd floor gallery. The exhibition asks: what is in our blood, and who is allowed to belong—to a team, a family, a nation? In the garden, stargazing with the Amateur Astronomers' Association will open and conclude the night, weather permitting.
Please note that seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
About the speakers
David Wallace-Wells is a columnist and writer at The New York Times and the author of The Uninhabitable Earth. His essays and weekly newsletter cover science, politics, and public health, with extensive recent reporting on vaccines, the dismantling of public health infrastructure, and the impact of the MAHA movement on American health policy. Previously, he was deputy editor of New York Magazine and The Paris Review.
Demetre C. Daskalakis, MD, MPH, is an infectious disease physician and public health leader recognized for his expertise in infectious diseases and emergency response, with leadership experience at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the CDC, and in the White House National Mpox Response. He is currently the Chief Medical Officer of the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center.
Jessica Malaty Rivera is an infectious disease epidemiologist and award-winning science communicator. She has dedicated the last 20 years of her career to emerging infectious disease surveillance, public health policy, and vaccine advocacy. Her specialty is in translating complex public health science into impactful, judgement-free, and accessible information for wide audiences. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the Infodemiology Initiative at The Public Good Projects, a Fellow at Boston Children's Hospital Innovation & Digital Health Accelerator, and a Researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.
In between her day jobs and being a full-time mother to three little kids, she also dedicates several hours a week to promoting science literacy and debunking misinformation on Instagram (@jessicamalatyrivera) and on Substack (@makingsciencemakesense).