Vaccine confidence in the United States has declined sharply, and the reasons are complicated — organizational upheaval at the CDC, conflicting guidance from different authorities, COVID-19 messaging failures and a flood of social media misinformation.

In this episode, David Dodd, president and CEO of vaccine developer GeoVax, joins Medical Economics Managing Editor Todd Shryock to share his perspective as an industry insider who is neither dismissive of the concerns driving hesitancy nor willing to accept that the system is beyond repair.

Music Credits:
Empty Spaces by Cephas - stock.adobe.com
A Textbook Example by Skip Peck - stock.adobe.com

Editor's note: Episode timestamps and transcript produced using AI tools.

0:00 – 0:24 | Sponsor message Copic medical liability insurance.

0:24 – 0:50 | Cold open Dodd previews the episode's central concern: an unprecedented decline in public trust in the institutions that have historically guided vaccine decisions.

0:50 – 1:47 | Introduction Austin Littrell introduces the episode and previews the conversation with Dodd.

1:47 – 5:00 | The Vaccine Integrity Project Dodd explains why the AMA's independent vaccine review initiative matters — not because the CDC has collapsed, but because the current process lacks definition, and uncertainty is directly affecting development timelines and public confidence.

5:00 – 6:36 | Can independent review and federal oversight coexist? Dodd predicts convergence between the AMA's process and the federal government's, drawing on historical precedent for multiple parallel pathways eventually integrating into something new.

6:36 – 10:45 | The most damaging misinformation — and why Dodd pushes back Dodd names the blanket claim that Secretary Kennedy is entirely anti-vaccine as the most damaging narrative in circulation, and explains why his own company's experience — including losing a $400 million DOGE-cut program — makes him neither a hard-line supporter nor a dismisser. He also addresses the mRNA vs. multi-antigen platform debate and why preferring one over the other is a legitimate scientific conversation, not a conspiracy.

10:45 – 13:15 | Red states, blue states and fragmented guidelines Dodd says he doesn't believe the U.S. will end up with politically divided vaccine guidelines — but acknowledges the current vacuum is real and that medical organizations stepping in to fill it, while sometimes viewed as overreach, is a necessary response.

13:15 – 14:07 | P2 Management Minute Keith Reynolds shares practice management tips and invites listeners to submit their own workflow ideas.

14:07 – 20:22 | How COVID-19 messaging failures bred lasting skepticism Dodd traces the roots of current vaccine hesitancy to the 2020 messaging around COVID-19 vaccines — overstated efficacy claims, promises of sterilizing immunity that didn't hold up, mandatory language that alienated the public. He argues the lesson is transparency about what vaccines actually do: reduce hospitalization and death, not prevent infection entirely. He also makes the case that measles, flu and COVID-19 vaccines require very different public conversations.

20:22 – 24:04 | Advice for primary care physicians Dodd's core message to physicians: listening is the most important clinical skill you have in this environment. He shares a personal story of switching physicians after feeling dismissed, and makes the case that patients who don't trust their doctor should be told to find another one — because the relationship only works if the communication is genuinely bidirectional.

24:04 – 25:01 | Closing remarks and outro Shryock wraps the interview. Littrell thanks listeners and reminds the audience to subscribe and visit MedicalEconomics.com and PhysiciansPractice.com.

S1 Ep149: Rebuilding vaccine trust, with David Dodd of GeoVax

Off the Chart: A Business of Medicine Podcast

S1 Ep149: Rebuilding vaccine trust, with David Dodd of GeoVax