With Ram Duriseti, on the reanalysis of phase 3 trials of mRNA vaccines to children, and much more

Ram Duriseti, MD, PhD, was part of the recent reanalysis of the phase 3 trials of mRNA vaccines to children, and also a strong voice of reason in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here he joins Tracy Beth Høeg and Christine Stabell Benn to talk about his experience as an Emergency Physician during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ram also explains why he mostly stayed out of research prior to the pandemic despite his PhD. We move on to discuss the reanalysis of the phase 3 trials of mRNA, its results, and its implications. Many new mRNA vaccines are underway for different pathogens. We all agree the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were not sufficiently tested for their potential non-specific effects. The new mRNA vaccines will provide new opportunities for this but the FDA and EMA are unfortunately unlikely to require these types of studies for approval. Finally Ram discusses losing his clinical position at Stanford due to the booster mandate. Link to the reanalysis paper (preprint): https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.07.23298573v3.full.pdf