Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This video interview is part of the series I am conducting with the speakers appearing at CSICon 2023. This conference is run by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and will take place in Las Vegas from October 26–29. (You can find all the details and register right here.) For this episode, my guest was Dr. Paul A. Offit, MD.
Register now to attend CSICon 2023: skepticalinquirer.org/csicon
Dr. Offit is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
He has published more than 160 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses, and vaccine safety. He is the coinventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC and the WHO.
He is also an author of books including Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All and Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. His newest book, Tell Me When It’s Over: Living with COVID in a Post-Pandemic World, is expected in 2024.
Dr. Offit’s presentation for CSICon 2023, “Why So Many COVID-19 Boosters?” is scheduled for Saturday at 9:00 a.m. This is the talk’s description from the conference’s website:
At this point, most Americans have little idea of what it means to be fully protected against COVID-19. Dr. Paul Offit will summarize why the situation with COVID-19 booster dosing is so confusing and where the confusion started.
In our conversation, Dr. Offit and I discussed his scheduled COVID-19 talk, the childhood incident which drove him toward a career fighting virus born illnesses, his participation in the FDA’s COVID-19 vaccine approval process, and the irrationality and danger of the anti-vaccine movement. We also discussed his involvement as medical advisor for the film to be screened at CSICon, Virulent: The Vaccine War. If you are interested in learning more about that film, I recently interviewed its production team, and you can find that interview here.
Perhaps these conversations will make you consider attending this year’s CSICon where you can meet all the fascinating speakers in person. (I’ll be there too!)
Look for more of my CSICon 2023 interviews in the coming weeks. (Richard Dawkins is up next!) You will find them, as well as my interviews with many of the speakers from last year’s conference, all archived here.
This video interview is part of the series I am conducting with the speakers appearing at CSICon 2023. This conference is run by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and will take place in Las Vegas from October 26–29. (You can find all the details and register right here.) For this episode, my guest was Dr. Paul A. Offit, MD.
Register now to attend CSICon 2023: skepticalinquirer.org/csicon
Dr. Offit is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
He has published more than 160 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses, and vaccine safety. He is the coinventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC and the WHO.
He is also an author of books including Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All and Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. His newest book, Tell Me When It’s Over: Living with COVID in a Post-Pandemic World, is expected in 2024.
Dr. Offit’s presentation for CSICon 2023, “Why So Many COVID-19 Boosters?” is scheduled for Saturday at 9:00 a.m. This is the talk’s description from the conference’s website:
At this point, most Americans have little idea of what it means to be fully protected against COVID-19. Dr. Paul Offit will summarize why the situation with COVID-19 booster dosing is so confusing and where the confusion started.
In our conversation, Dr. Offit and I discussed his scheduled COVID-19 talk, the childhood incident which drove him toward a career fighting virus born illnesses, his participation in the FDA’s COVID-19 vaccine approval process, and the irrationality and danger of the anti-vaccine movement. We also discussed his involvement as medical advisor for the film to be screened at CSICon, Virulent: The Vaccine War. If you are interested in learning more about that film, I recently interviewed its production team, and you can find that interview here.
Perhaps these conversations will make you consider attending this year’s CSICon where you can meet all the fascinating speakers in person. (I’ll be there too!)
Look for more of my CSICon 2023 interviews in the coming weeks. (Richard Dawkins is up next!) You will find them, as well as my interviews with many of the speakers from last year’s conference, all archived here.
