When soccer journalist Grant Wahl died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm during the World Cup, his wife Dr. Céline Gounder was bombarded by messages from online trolls saying that she killed her husband with the COVID vaccine. She decided to fight those trolls. Andy speaks with Céline about the five most common moves in the vaccine disinformation playbook, how artificial intelligence could make things worse, and the emotional toll of protecting her husband’s legacy.

Keep up with Andy on Post and Twitter and Post @ASlavitt.

Follow Céline Gounder on Twitter @celinegounder.

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Check out these resources from today’s episode: 

• Read Céline’s NYT essay, “Grant Wahl Was a Loving Husband. I Will Always Protect His Legacy”: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/opinion/grant-wahl-celine-gounder-vaccine.html
• Listen to Céline’s podcast, American Diagnosis: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/american-diagnosis-with-dr-c%C3%A9line-gounder/id1282044849
• Find vaccines, masks, testing, treatments, and other resources in your community: https://www.covid.gov/
• Order Andy’s book, “Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response”: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250770165 

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