Experts in the News

"We have to be prepared about the United States. This is going to be a significant pandemic and something we're going to have figure out how to get our arms around," said global health fellow Peter Hotez.

Amid news that a 30-hour-old infant contracted the coronavirus, there was growing speculation about the possibility of mother-to-fetus transmission. However, experts including global health policy fellow Peter Hotez warned against drawing such conclusions.

"This is a great collaboration. But vaccine development is not a fast process, and it's not clear whether we would have a vaccine ready to use before this current epidemic ends," said fellow Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). Hotez's group at the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at BCM is working to develop the vaccine with other U.S. institutions such as the University of Texas Medical Branch and the New York Blood Center, and with the Virology Center at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

“The anti-vaccine lobby will change their methods to suit their environment,” said health policy fellow Peter Hotez. “In the Pacific Northwest, they talk about ‘toxic ingredients.’ In more conservative states, they cater to the right wing by talking about religious freedoms.”

Peter Hotez, fellow in disease and poverty, was interviewed about a new study suggesting that wealthy nations have the highest distrust of vaccines.