It's hard to believe that infectious diseases have become a political litmus test, but they are now very much part of the “for us or against us” mental sorting that more and more people seem to be doing these days. And the topic seems to be everywhere. Do you think the US should continue to fund aid programs for diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria? Are you happy or shocked about Florida's plans to roll back school vaccination mandates? Do you seek or avoid the annual flu vaccine?
As someone who recently completed fifteen years of post-college training to become an infectious disease physician-scientist, I can't avoid these conversations. I wish I knew the magic words to reach people who are willing to throw out decades of evidence and research for something they read online.
I am proud of my work and committed to my profession. But in a country polarized by everything from the response to the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk to RFK Jr.'s abrupt reconfiguration of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, I was hesitant to share what I was doing with the talkative young man I sat next to on a recent flight.
When the inevitable career question came up, he jumped right in. Despite the early hour and lack of sleep, and with no viable exit option, I decided to take on the challenge, although bracing myself for the worst.
Lyme disease was first on the list. After all, we were flying from Connecticut.
“Haven't you heard that Lyme disease has been created as a weapon of bioterrorism?” I didn't (because I didn't). Somehow, between hours of caring for patients, researching disease pathogenesis, and staying abreast of the literature in my field, I had missed this infectious disease conspiracy du jour.
“It's called Lyme because that's where they released it.”
No. In Old Lyme, Connecticut, epidemiologists realized that patients' symptoms coincided with recent tick bites and subsequently confirmed that local ticks carried the disease-causing bacteria.
“You can't cure it; it's made to be a weapon.” Actually, we have very effective antibiotics to kill the bacteria (although some people may develop complex Lyme disease syndrome after treatment). I'm no military strategist, but I can't imagine that indiscriminately infecting outdoor enthusiasts with a non-lethal, treatable disease that requires transmission via a slow-feeding arthropod would be an ideal bioterrorism plan.
“But why is it spreading so quickly now?”
Climate change, expansion of ticks' habitats and food sources, and a lack of winters that kill them.
He laughed. “So in your 'profesh' opinion, Lyme disease as a bioterrorism weapon is a load of nonsense?”
Yes. Which I do agree with.
We moved on to the next obvious infectious disease topic: COVID-19. I gave him space. He wasn't showing any disrespect, and neither was I. We shared that we had experienced the pandemic in completely different ways. He described how difficult it was to get vaccinated. He felt compelled to keep his job, but feared the perceived harm of the vaccine.
I shared my experiences working in the hospital. I told him how I had seen countless people die alone, and how the vaccine was a real savior. He believed that only old people had died. I told him I had seen enough young, healthy people become weakened that I would never make that bet, not during that pandemic or the next. In fact, by September 2023, more than 25,000 18-39 year olds had died from COVID in the US
I tried to hear his concerns. I admitted that my passion for science and what I had experienced as a doctor may have caused me to be unfairly dismissive of people whose main concern was being stuck at home and unable to pay the rent or educate their children. I recognized that there is always a small chance that some people will experience a negative reaction to any medical intervention, whether it be a vaccine or an over-the-counter medication, and I can understand why this might make some people hesitant.
But I also reiterated the rigor of the scientific process involved in developing treatments, reviewing safety data, and ultimately making clinical recommendations. I told him that mRNA vaccines are neither new – they have been in development for decades – nor a government-led conspiracy to genetically engineer the population. The reference to 'genetic material' can lead to misconceptions, but mRNA does not end up in the cell nucleus, where our DNA is located. Our cells don't even have the molecular machinery that can turn mRNA into DNA. That's a fact, not just my “profesh” opinion.
It felt real, the effort to hear and speak to each other. And I learned things from him too. In response to my insistence that his infection-related conspiracy theories were nothing more than that, he admitted: “Yes, you're probably right.” Then he added with a smile on his face, “But conspiracies are much more fun.”
Conspiracies are much more fun. Maybe conspiracies about vaccines or diseases are fun – when you're young and healthy, when you're bored, when you're motivated to gain access to a community that promises you “insider knowledge.”
But for the population as a whole, they are incredibly dangerous. Conspiracy theories are why a measles outbreak occurred in the US this year and why CDC employees were targeted in a workplace shooting. This is why Ebola outbreaks are difficult to control and why polio vaccination workers are being killed abroad.
By the time our flight was over, our conversation had covered a wide geographical and political area. The experience gave me genuine hope that we could maintain trust in each other and reminded me that scientists and doctors cannot give up on these conversations.
“With COVID, vaccines, Lyme disease, whatever – I'm not your enemy,” I told my seatmate as we prepared to disembark. “And I know you're not the enemy either.”
“That's true,” he agreed. “But they always want to make someone your enemy.”
Precisely. That's what conspiracy theories require. That's why we have to talk to each other. See me as a person. And I will do the same.
I am not your enemy. Neither does science.
Morgan Goheen, M.D., Ph.D., works at the Yale School of Medicine as a research scientist and board-certified infectious disease physician, and she is a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project in partnership with Yale University.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost in October 2025.
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