175: The Vaccine Conversation We Need to Have: Safety, Trust & Misinformation with Dr. Mike Myers

Are vaccines safe? How should patients interpret reports of vaccine injuries and adverse effects? Is natural immunity better than vaccine-induced immunity? And why did trust in vaccines and public health decline so dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic?

In this episode of Confessions of a Male Gynecologist, Dr. Shawn Tassone sits down with Harvard-trained physician and author, Dr. Michael T. Myers, Jr., MD, MBA, for an in-depth discussion about vaccines, vaccine safety, medical misinformation, public health, and the growing distrust surrounding vaccination.

Dr. Myers explains how vaccines are evaluated for safety and effectiveness, why correlation does not necessarily prove that a vaccine caused a reported health problem, and how systems such as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) are actually intended to be used. They also discuss the reality of vaccine injuries, why adverse events deserve careful investigation, and why self-reported vaccine reactions must be interpreted within the larger scientific and clinical context.

The conversation examines how communication during the COVID-19 pandemic affected vaccine confidence and contributed to increased vaccine hesitancy. Dr. Tassone and Dr. Myers discuss what public health officials and physicians could have communicated differently, the tension between vaccine mandates and individual autonomy, and why rebuilding trust between patients and healthcare professionals is essential.

They also explore the childhood vaccination schedule, herd immunity, natural immunity versus vaccine-induced immunity, and the resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. Dr. Myers explains why the timing of childhood vaccines matters, how widespread vaccination protects both individuals and communities, and what can happen when vaccination rates fall.

Rather than dismissing questions about vaccines, this conversation emphasizes the importance of informed discussion, transparent communication, scientific evidence, and allowing patients to ask difficult questions without immediately labeling them as anti-vaccine.

For anyone trying to understand vaccine safety, vaccine adverse effects, VAERS, childhood vaccines, vaccine mandates, natural immunity, measles outbreaks, or the lasting impact of COVID-19 on trust in medicine, this episode provides a physician-led discussion of one of the most divisive public health topics of the last several years.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How vaccines have played a major role in reducing serious illness, disability, and death from infectious diseases.
• Why vaccine misinformation and distrust increased substantially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
• How communication from physicians and public health leaders can have a significant impact on vaccine confidence and patient trust.
• Why vaccine safety concerns should be taken seriously, but a medical event occurring after vaccination does not automatically mean the vaccine caused that event.
• VAERS is an important surveillance system designed to identify potential safety signals, but reports submitted to VAERS do not by themselves establish causation.
• Vaccine injuries and adverse reactions can occur, and those cases deserve careful evaluation within the context of the overall risks and benefits of vaccination.
• How the childhood vaccination schedule is designed around disease risk, immune response, vaccine effectiveness, and the ages when children are most vulnerable to specific infections.
• Reasons natural immunity is not automatically safer, stronger, or preferable to vaccine-induced immunity because acquiring natural immunity generally requires experiencing the infection itself.
• Examples of how vaccinations have dramatically reduced diseases such as measles, but declining vaccination rates can allow previously controlled diseases to return.
• How herd immunity helps protect individuals who cannot receive certain vaccines or who may not develop a strong immune response.
• Breaking down vaccine mandates that raise difficult questions involving public health, personal autonomy, individual rights, and responsibility to the broader community.
• How physicians can address vaccine hesitancy more effectively by listening to patients' concerns rather than immediately dismissing or criticizing them.
• Why trust between patients and healthcare professionals is essential when discussing vaccination and other controversial medical topics.
• Reasons clear communication about both the benefits and potential risks of vaccination is critical for informed medical decision-making.
• Why continued vaccine surveillance and research are necessary because scientific understanding evolves as additional data becomes available.

Questions Dr. Mike Myers Answered in This Episode:

Are vaccines safe?
Dr. Myers discusses how vaccine safety is evaluated, how adverse events are monitored, and why risk must be considered alongside the risks associated with the diseases vaccines are designed to prevent.

What does a VAERS report actually mean?
VAERS allows healthcare professionals, vaccine manufacturers, patients, and others to report health events occurring after vaccination. These reports can help identify potential safety signals, but a VAERS report alone does not prove that a vaccine caused the reported event.

Are vaccine injuries real?
Yes. Adverse reactions can occur following vaccination. The challenge is determining whether a specific medical event was actually caused by the vaccine or simply occurred within the same time period.

Is natural immunity better than vaccine immunity?
Natural infection can produce immunity, but obtaining that immunity requires becoming infected and accepting the potential complications of the disease. Vaccine-induced immunity attempts to create immune protection without requiring someone to experience the full disease.

Why do children receive vaccines according to a specific schedule?
The childhood vaccination schedule is designed around when children are most vulnerable to certain diseases and when vaccines can provide effective protection.

Why is measles returning in some communities?
Measles is extremely contagious. When vaccination rates fall below levels needed to maintain community protection, outbreaks become more likely.

Did COVID-19 change how people view vaccines?
The pandemic significantly altered public trust in healthcare institutions, government agencies, physicians, and vaccines. Dr. Tassone and Dr. Myers discuss how inconsistent messaging and rapidly evolving recommendations contributed to that distrust.

Should vaccines be mandated?
Vaccine mandates involve a difficult balance between individual autonomy and protecting community health, making them one of the more complicated ethical questions surrounding vaccination policy.

About Dr. Mike Myers

Dr. Michael T. Myers, Jr., MD, MBA was the Chief of Primary Care, Pediatrics, and Practice Transformation for Summit Health New Jersey, one of the state's largest medical groups, before he retired in 2025.

A physician leader with more than 35 years of experience in medical group practice management, public health initiatives, and health care consulting, Dr. Myers has held leadership positions at Partners HealthCare in Boston (now Mass General Brigham), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as COVID-19 scientific consultant to Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, and was appointed Adjunct Lecturer.

His first book, COVID-ology: A Field Guide [CRC Press | 2022], an academic title for college health and science majors, was released in December 2022.

Dr. Myers completed his primary care residency at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received his MD from Harvard, BA from Johns Hopkins, and MBA from Northeastern University.

Connect with Dr. Mike Myers

Visit Dr. Myers Website | Dr.MikeMyers.com

Purchase Dr. Mike Myers Latest Book, The Vaccine Bible, on Amazon

Purchase Dr. Mike Myers Latest Book, The Vaccine Bible, on Bookshop.org

Purchase Dr. Mike Myers Latest Book, The Vaccine Bible, on Audiobook

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Medical Disclaimer
This podcast and website represent the opinions of Dr. Shawn Tassone and his guests. The content here should not be taken as medical advice and is for informational purposes only. Because each person is so unique, please consult your health care professional for any medical questions.