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5 min readWhen a vaccine researcher’s date revealed a deeper problem
In the summer of 2018, viral immunologist Kizmikia Corbett was on a first date in Washington, D.C. The conversation flowed over tacos and beer, touching on families and whether they wanted children. Then she asked her go-to question: “Do you plan on vaccinating your future children?” Her date, a PhD in educational psychology, said yes—except for the flu vaccine, because whenever he got it, he got sick. Corbett was stunned. She had just invented a novel flu vaccine slated for clinical trial. But instead of ending the date, she stayed, bought another beer, and explained that the viruses in the flu shot aren’t alive and can’t cause illness—that grogginess afterward is just the immune system responding. She asked him a simple question: did he know there are 200 different flu viruses? He wasn’t offended. He asked her out again. They eventually married and now have two children.
That date gave Corbett a term she now uses to reframe the public conversation: vaccine inquisitiveness, not vaccine hesitancy.
The difference between hesitancy and inquisitiveness
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:05) **Kizmikia Corbett’s Vaccine Inquisitiveness Framework** - A viral immunologist recounts a first date that revealed deep vaccine misinformation, leading her to coin a new term.
- 2 (03:26) **The 66-Day Sprint to a COVID Vaccine** - Corbett details the historic speed of the Moderna vaccine development and the shock of widespread hesitancy.
- 3 (09:34) **Regret Over a Communication Failure** - Corbett admits that the scientific bubble prevented real-time public education about the vaccine’s evolving limitations.
- 4 (11:35) **Why Speed Felt Like Suspicion** - Corbett explains how the record-breaking pace of vaccine development naturally bred skepticism among the public.
- 5 (13:03) **Reframing Hesitancy as Inquisitiveness** - Corbett introduces the language shift that can open conversations with vaccine skeptics.
- 6 (15:57) **Marrying Science and Community** - Corbett argues that when researchers treat skepticism as curiosity, vaccine acceptance follows naturally.
- 7 (20:40) **Preparing for the Next Pandemic** - Corbett outlines what vaccine-inquisitive people need to know about future outbreaks.
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Show Notes
Guests include viral immunologist Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire and writer James Robinson.
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