Peter Hotez

I set out 40 years ago as an MD-PhD student to make low-cost vaccines for the world.

We've done that.

We've reached 100 million people.

We have other vaccines in the pipeline.

We're very excited about our hookworm anemia vaccine, for instance, and our schistosomiasis vaccine and others.

But

But now I realize that's insufficient, that unless we do something to counteract growing anti-vaccine activism, which is a tax on my field, none of those vaccines are going to be used or even accelerated and developed and distributed.

And so, therefore, defeating the anti-vaccine activism is

is almost as important as making the vaccines.

And that's why we take it on out of necessity.

Well, like I often say is, I mean, who are the patriots here?

This is a nation built on the greatness of our research university.

One of the things that I say to my graduate students and postdocs and residents, I say, we're the patriots, you know, we are.

We help build this country, and this is the best of America.

Let me tell you an anecdote, if I have one more minute, which is, you know, I served as U.S.

Science Envoy 2015 to 2016 and was sent by the U.S.

State Department, by our government all over the Middle East and North Africa, and I

And I was in Saudi Arabia, and they do these things called diwaniyahs, which I have to say it's the men because that's the men get together for drinking cardamom and coffee and tea.

And it happened on a day where –

one of the presidential candidates made some pretty aggressive anti-Muslim statements.