In this episode of A Moment in Health, Dr. Ashish Jha highlights a troubling new data point: premature mortality among Americans ages 18 to 64 rose by 27.2% between 2012 and 2022, driven largely by opioid overdoses, early cardiovascular disease, violence, and the early COVID-19 years. He reviews a new Nature study showing that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines may boost the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy, finding that patients who received an mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting treatment were twice as likely to be alive three years later, likely due to broad immune activation. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory, joins to discuss where Americans can turn for reliable, evidence-based public health information at a time when federal guidance has become less consistent.

Dr. Jha discusses:

• Racial Disparities in Premature Mortality and Unrealized Medicare Benefits Across US States — JAMA Health Forum
• SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint blockade — Nature

About the Guest

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis served as the director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) from 2023 to 2025. He also previously served as the director of the CDC's Division of HIV Prevention and Deputy Coordinator for the National Mpox Response at the White House.

About the Host

Dr. Ashish K. Jha is the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

Music by Katherine Beggs, additional music by Lulu West and Maya Polsky