Vaccine Scientist-Author-Combat Antiscience
@bcmhouston Professor Pediatrics Molecular Virology, @bcm_tropmed Dean, @TexasChildrens Chair in Tropical Pediatrics

When news broke that the Biden administration was preparing to recommend coronavirus vaccine boosters, Peter Hotez’s phone and inbox started blowing up. Hotez, a seasoned vaccine scientist and dean at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine (with more credentials than can fit in this sentence), is one of the most sought-after COVID experts of the moment, as evidenced by his three-day parade of press appearances to talk booster shots: The Lead With Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper 360, Don Lemon Tonight, At This Hour With Kate Bolduan, Morning Joe, Stephanie Ruhle Reports, Katy Tur Reports (with Geoff Bennett subbing), All In With Chris Hayes (with Mehdi Hasan subbing), MTP Daily With Chuck Todd, Good Morning America, the CBS Evening News, NPR, SiriusXM, Yahoo Finance, and a dash of local radio thrown in for good measure. Plus, he also found a few minutes to speak with me—not about COVID or vaccines, but instead his newfound media profile. “It’s like having two full-time jobs,” said Hotez, one of the lead researchers on a vaccine candidate called Corbevax, which he hopes will soon be rolled out to the developing world. “The key thing is trying to keep up with the lab research and the papers and do all the media and public outreach. I love both.”

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Like Slavitt, Hotez already had some experience putting himself out in the public domain before COVID. He’d done a bunch of TV in the past around issues like the Zika virus and the anti-vax movement. (Last year Hotez published Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism, about his daughter, for Johns Hopkins University Press.) But nothing nearing the level of his current media visibility. Hotez said he strives to “convey the nuance and complexity to the science. I think that’s why people have appreciated my being out there on the networks.” By now he’s used to having a target on his back. “I get it, the army of patriots is gonna hunt me down,” he said. “What really ramps it up is when Laura Ingraham targets me on Fox News or if Breitbart goes after me.” On the bright side, Hotez no longer has to speak out against people like Donald Trump, Peter Navarro, or Mark Meadows. (Though some Republican governors are giving him a run for his money.) “Those guys had adopted an anti-science platform,” he said, adding: “I don’t like talking about [politics], but if you wanna save lives, you have to do it.”

“This announcement is an important first step in vaccinating the world and halting the pandemic. Our vaccine technology offers a path to address an unfolding humanitarian crisis, namely the vulnerability the low- and middle-income countries face against the delta variant,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, Professor and Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor and Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. “Widespread and global vaccination with our Texas Children’s-Baylor-BE vaccine would also forestall the emergence of new variants. We have previously missed that opportunity for the alpha and delta variant. Now is our chance to prevent a new global wave from what might follow.”

“Over the years, we have worked to make quality vaccines and pharmaceutical products accessible to families around the world. With this as our backdrop, we resolved to develop an affordable and effective COVID-19 vaccine. It has now become a reality,” said Mahima Datla, Managing Director, Biological E. Limited. “We deeply appreciate Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Baylor, CEPI, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the government of India for their continuous support and cooperation during this journey. The combined efforts & unceasing support demonstrate that we can collectively overcome any challenge”.

Texas Children’s Hospital CVD received philanthropic support for the development of this vaccine from many generous donors across the country, including a significant contribution from The JPB Foundation in May 2020.