On Monday, Wesley J. Smith interviewed former CDC Director Robert R. Redfield on the public health disasters brought on by viruses like HIV and Covid and the reasons for the current loss of trust in public health.

Dr. Redfield is a virologist by training and he specialized early in HIV. Smith writes,

Dr. Redfield made several important early contributions to the scientific understanding of HIV, including the demonstration of the importance of heterosexual transmission, the development of the Walter Reed staging system for HIV infection, and the demonstration of active HIV replication in all stages of HIV infection. 

“Viruses, Vaccines, the COVID Epidemic, and Distrust in Public Health,” January 27, 2025

He was also part of Operation Warp Speed to develop a Covid vaccine.

It’s a wide-ranging hour-and-a-quarter interview that covers hot health topics — COVID, HIV, Fauci, RFK Jr., bird flu, loss of trust in science — but here are some highlights that touch on the Covid epidemic and the subsequent vaccine controversy:

I happen to be a big advocate of Bobby Kennedy becoming Secretary of Health. Bobby Kennedy is not anti-vaccine. Bobby Kennedy is for transparency about vaccines. What is the safety profile of the vaccine?

Well, what is the safety profile of the Covid vaccines?

The mere asking the question, is a vaccine safe, doesn’t make you anti-vaccine. It makes you show me the data. For example, in the Covid vaccines, show me the data on the mRNA vaccines about their safety profile. I happen to think there’s more vaccine injury from the mRNA vaccines than people appreciate. I’m a bigger advocate of the killed protein vaccine from Novavax, which doesn’t have, I think, the same safety concerns that I’ve seen from the mRNA vaccines.

Now, I was on Operation Warp Speed board, I helped develop those vaccines. They saved lots of lives. I’m very proud of what we accomplished with Operation Warp speed. But now as we look in 2025, we should look openly, for example, what is the safety profile of the vaccines? I’m very disappointed when the FDA said they may not reveal the safety profile from the mRNA vaccines until 2026. They ought to show the safety profile today and then let the American people make the judgment about whether this vaccine is something for them.

Should everyone get the Covid vaccine?

I’m not an advocate of the vaccine for people that aren’t vulnerable because the vaccine doesn’t prevent infection. But I’m a big advocate for people like myself that are over 65, that have diabetes, that have hypertension, that are at risk for bad outcome, that are overweight. Covid still is causing 100 to 150 people a day to die. The vaccine can really impact not whether you get infected, but it will impact whether you die. … But all in all, I’m of the view, and this is what’s got a lot of people skeptical because they see a person like me supporting Bobby Kennedy as strongly as I do.

What about people who refuse to be vaccinated on principle?

I’m very saddened when I see vaccines stay on the shelf and people don’t take advantage of them for themselves and their family and their children. But my own view is that should be a choice of the individual and I should be able to convince you why it’s in your medical public health benefit to get vaccinated.

But that wasn’t the path government chose …

So we made a big mistake during the Covid pandemic, …really even more so in mandating, mandating the Covid vaccines… I argued, as CDC director, I didn’t want mandates because if I tell you to do something you don’t want to do, all I do is reinforce in you not to do it. But what I need to do is spend the time and energy to convince you why you want to take this vaccine, why it’s in your best interest. It was a big mistake when they mandated it for firefighters and policemen and healthcare workers and military. That was a big mistake and it really enhanced vaccine hesitancy.

Did the vaccines really prevent Covid?

They misinformed the American people because they would say, and I’d get upset with this when they said that this is an “epidemic now of the unvaccinated.” You probably remember hearing that… Well I can tell you I knew as CDC Director, that wasn’t true because I already had patients having their second episode of Covid within 12 weeks of the first episode. So I knew that Covid infection itself didn’t protect against reinfection. So I knew the vaccines weren’t going to be any better. And the fact is, when I was a Senior Medical Advisor for the State of Maryland, after I left CDC, I was seeing that a majority, about two thirds of the patients that were infected in Maryland were people that had been “fully vaccinated.” Now that was a terrible term that was put out by the Public Health service. Fully vaccinated? You got two shots. No, you weren’t fully vaccinated, you got the initial series.

In order to be adequately vaccinated from Covid like myself, since I’m at risk, I get vaccinated every six months. These vaccines don’t last. They’re non-durable. Natural infection doesn’t give you immunity. So what the real answer is, am I adequately vaccinated?

Many things seem to be coming out in the wash now. We noted yesterday that it’s becoming safe to openly admit unpopular or inconvenient facts about Covid. For example, vaccine injuries are beginning to be more openly discussed and the CIA now admits that the lab leak theory of COVID’s origin is a good bet.

Next: Redfield’s interactions with Anthony Fauci.

Cross-posted at Mind Matters News.