Seth Berkley interview: vaccination in a time of extreme scepticism

BiographySeth Berkley is a US physician and infectious disease epidemiologist trained at Brown and Harvard Universities. After completing residency in internal medicine in Boston he joined the Special Pathogens Branch of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and worked on vaccine and HIV/AIDS programmes in Uganda. He later led the Rockefeller Foundation’s vaccine work, founded the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and served as chief executive of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (2011-23). He co-created Covax (Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access) during the covid pandemic to ensure that vaccines reached all countries that needed them. He is now adjunct professor and senior adviser at Brown University’s Pandemic Center and an adviser to numerous technology companies.Vaccine misinformation and scepticismThe BMJ: Misinformation and disinformation have destabilised societies and put a major dent in people’s trust in vaccines. How did this happen?SB: We’ve always seen vaccine hesitancy. But this time it’s different because…