Couverture de We Want Them Infected Podcast

We Want Them Infected Podcast

We Want Them Infected Podcast

De : Dr. Jonathan Howard and Wendy Orent
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Our podcast delves deep into the dark side of the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing how influential doctors shaped the narrative. 📖 A Movement in the Making: "We Want Them Infected" isn't just a book; it's a call to action, exposing how the anti-vaccine movement infiltrated mainstream culture. Join us on this journey of discovering the impact of misinformation on public health, trust in science, and more.2023 Sciences sociales
Épisodes
  • The Media Figures Who Helped Build MAHA

    The Media Figures Who Helped Build MAHA
    Jun 1 2026

    This week on We Want Them Infected, Jonathan Howard and Wendy Orent take a step back from the headlines to examine the academics, journalists, physicians, and commentators who helped legitimize and elevate the MAHA movement. They revisit articles, endorsements, and public statements that portrayed figures like Jay Bhattacharya, Marty Makary, and Vinay Prasad as reformers poised to restore trust in science and public health. With the benefit of hindsight, they explore how those predictions have aged, what has happened inside major health agencies, and why accountability matters when influential voices help shape public opinion.
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    1 h et 22 min
  • FDA Shakeups Hantavirus Fears and the Fractures Inside MAHA

    FDA Shakeups Hantavirus Fears and the Fractures Inside MAHA
    Jun 1 2026

    This week on We Want Them Infected, Jonathan Howard and Wendy Orent unpack a whirlwind week in public health and pandemic policy. They examine newly released FDA findings showing no definitive child deaths linked to COVID vaccines, challenge claims made by former FDA officials, and discuss the growing controversy surrounding vaccine safety narratives. They also explore the fallout from leadership changes at the FDA, RFK Jr.'s latest public health moves, concerns about scientific collaboration restrictions, and the surprising response to recent hantavirus and Ebola threats. Along the way, they take a closer look at Jay Bhattacharya's evolving stance on infectious disease mitigation and what it may reveal about the realities of public health leadership.
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    1 h et 15 min
  • Bill Cassidy, Marty Makary, Vinay Prasad, Tracy Hoeg: The FDA Implosion and the End of MAHA's Pandemic Influencers

    Bill Cassidy, Marty Makary, Vinay Prasad, Tracy Hoeg: The FDA Implosion and the End of MAHA's Pandemic Influencers
    May 24 2026
    Jonathan Howard and Wendy Orent call this week their "Red Wedding": within days, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned, Vinay Prasad was pushed out of CBER, Tracy Beth Hoeg was fired, and Senator Bill Cassidy lost his Louisiana primary. The hosts argue this is not a tragedy but a long-foretold collapse — a group of physicians who built careers as COVID-era contrarian podcasters discovering that running a regulatory agency is fundamentally different from posting about one. Howard works through the wreckage: Makary's reported approval of flavored nicotine products days before his ouster, the FDA's treatment of the rare disease community, the leaked memo claiming pediatric COVID vaccine deaths that career staff refused to sign off on, and the broader pattern of "regulatory whiplash" that drove the agency into dysfunction. The episode then turns to who is still standing — Jay Bhattacharya at NIH, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at HHS — and what Kennedy is reportedly doing to vaccines from behind the scenes via Martin Kulldorff's review effort. Throughout, the hosts return to a single thesis: the skills that made Makary, Prasad, Hoeg, and Cassidy famous during COVID — opinion, tweeting, posturing — do not translate into running institutions, and the medical commentators who vouched for them (John Mandrola, Adam Cifu) have lost any remaining credibility. Key Topics Discussed Bill Cassidy's primary loss and the cost of the Kennedy confirmation vote Cassidy's earlier vote to convict Trump after January 6 followed by his decisive vote advancing RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary. Howard and Orent's view that Cassidy's promise to "keep Kennedy in line" was hollow from the start. What Cassidy's defeat signals about Trump's grip on the Republican base in Louisiana — and the hosts' read that his lame-duck status may give him cover to block the next round of HHS nominees. Marty Makary's resignation and the "worst FDA Commissioner in 25 years" framing The Stat News piece characterizing Makary's tenure, and the reporting that flavored nicotine was the precipitating issue with Trump's tobacco-industry donors. Howard's counterpoint: Makary reportedly approved a batch of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) on May 5, 2026 — the weekend before he resigned — undercutting the "principled stand" narrative. The pattern of selfie videos, public-facing performance, and what former FDA staff describe as hostile management of career scientists. Makary's pre-FDA record: the "medical error is the third leading cause of death" claim, Omicron as "nature's vaccine," "Omicold," herd immunity calls in May 2021, and the Nazi-bioweapon Lyme disease theory amplification. Vinay Prasad, regulatory whiplash, and the rare disease community How Prasad's stated preference for randomized controlled trials translated into rejection of rare disease therapies — and the disconnect between calling for RCTs on Twitter and the practical impossibility of running them for small patient populations. Right-to-try advocates, the libertarian wing of MAHA (Senator Ron Johnson), and why they turned on Prasad. Howard's point: Pfizer's halted COVID vaccine RCT in 50–65-year-olds is the case study — the trials Prasad demanded couldn't actually be enrolled. Tracy Beth Hoeg, the leaked pediatric deaths memo, and the Maryanne Demasi interview Hoeg's insistence she was fired, not resigned, and her interview with Brownstone Institute–adjacent journalist Maryanne Demasi. Her claim that the chaos at the FDA was "created by the media" rather than real. The memo alleging 10 pediatric deaths from the COVID vaccine that career FDA staff would not sign off on — and Howard's contrast with the J&J/thrombosis response, where nine deaths produced immediate, transparent action. Hoeg's role in the Denmark-style vaccine schedule rollback memo alongside Makary. The Makary–Prasad ZDoggMD clip on FDA "vindictiveness" — and the irony Audio pulled from a pre-appointment Prasad/Makary appearance describing the FDA as "erratic," "capricious," and politically pressured. Howard's read: every criticism they leveled at the Biden-era FDA describes their own tenure — political pressure from Trump, demoted career staff, inconsistent standards. The Peter Marks / Marion Gruber / Phil Krause booster episode reframed in light of what followed. John Mandrola, Adam Cifu, and the cost of vouching Mandrola's "Can We Give the New FDA's Leadership a Chance?" piece a year earlier — and the line about Prasad and Makary inducing companies to run proper RCTs, set against Pfizer's halted trial. Howard's account of an email exchange with Cifu following Cifu's visit to NYU — Howard's offer of a serious content-level conversation, and Cifu's decline. The broader "medical conservatives" project and what the hosts argue has happened to its credibility. Jay Bhattacharya, NIH, and the resignation letter from departing staff The letter from a senior NIH scientist on ...
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    1 h et 32 min
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