It's an honor to bring you this interview with the esteemed Dr. Retsef Levi, PhD. He's a headline-making MIT professor of operations research and a current member of the CDC's ACIP committee, the group that advises vaccine policy in the United States. With a background in risk analysis, data modeling, and large-scale health systems, his hard-facts perspective is why this conversation matters so much to me.

We discuss:

- Myocarditis risk from COVID vaccines vs. infection

- Vaccine effects on pregnancy

- Are booster shots necessary? A critical look

- Alarming rise in cardiac arrest calls linked to vaccinations

- Navigating the publishing minefield of vaccine research

- The demand for diverse expertise in shaping vaccine policies

- Personalized risk assessments: the future of vaccination

- Urgent call for deeper investigations into vaccine safety signals and support for the injured

Additionally, we touch on flu vaccines, the use of fear as a motivator, low-quality data driving public health policy, and the long-term consequences of prioritizing speed over individualized risk assessment.

This conversation is about science, data, ethics, and restoring trust. It is NOT about politics; politics should play no role in medicine and public health.

If you care about evidence-based decision-making, transparency, and honest dialogue, this is a must-watch!

🎧 Listen to the full interview on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Search for The Dana Parish Podcast.

Chapters:

00:00 - Welcome + who Retsef Levi is

01:06 - Retsef's background at MIT + why he started looking at vaccines

03:18 - Boosters, myocarditis concerns, and why his focus shifted

05:21 - Joining CDC's ACIP and why risk modeling matters

07:50 - The Israel EMS cardiac arrest paper - how it started

10:25 - What myocarditis can look like and why it can be missed

12:48 - Findings: EMS cardiac arrest calls rose and why the signal mattered

15:48 - Retraction attempts and the fight to keep the paper published

20:48 - Why many people never heard about the study

22:25 - How the US vaccine schedule differs from other countries

26:16 - Why vaccine debate is uniquely polarized

30:09 - Why he didn't vaccinate his kids for COVID + their ages

33:14 - Risk-based approach: which vaccines he sees as most important

35:19 - What he'd do for a healthy newborn - Denmark schedule comparison

37:05 - Immune system + neurodevelopment research that needs more study

40:42 - Vaccines and transmission - using polio as an example

42:53 - Flu vaccine: repeated dosing, immune imprinting, and limitations

51:12 - Flu shot mandates in schools

51:57 - Why he believes vaccine mandates are unethical + harms trust

55:49 - COVID vaccine and pregnancy: what his team studied

57:06 - Healthy vaccine bias and why pregnancy studies can mislead

59:47 - Israel data model method: observed vs expected fetal loss

01:03:03 - Findings: higher fetal loss signal in early pregnancy

01:06:39 - Lessons from the last five years + what should change

01:08:14 - Vaccine-injured patients: ethics, trust, and accountability

01:10:37 - Closing thoughts + subscribe