An epidemiologist's guide to good health advice

Episode of TED Radio Hour · November 13, 2026 · 50 min

Manoush Zomorodi talks with epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera about health misinformation, measles, vaccine trust, wellness grifts, AI medical advice, and trending health questions.

Summary

Manoush Zomorodi interviewed infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator Jessica Malaty Rivera about what she called the "infodemic," an overwhelming flood of health information. Malaty Rivera described infodemiology as applying epidemiology's questions to information, offered a three-question test for vetting health content, and recounted how her private Instagram account became a public science-explainer page with about half a million followers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Malaty Rivera argued that the U.S. is in a dangerous period of relitigating established science, citing measles deaths among children and the country's impending loss of measles elimination status. She traced MMR skepticism to Andrew Wakefield's retracted Lancet paper, acknowledged that vaccines carry real but outweighed risks, and described harassment and threats she has received, including an FBI warning about threats naming her children. She discussed the halo effect, predatory wellness marketing aimed at women, recurring anti-vaccine tropes, historical abuses such as Tuskegee and Henrietta Lacks, and the appeal-to-nature fallacy behind "clean eating."

The conversation turned to the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak, where she said she was accused of "calm mongering," media headlines that inflated unrelated cases, measles being misremembered as mild, and COVID-19 as an endemic disease. She expressed concern about generative AI for self-diagnosis and hallucinated citations, while calling AI essential when used by experts. In a rapid-fire round she cautioned against unregulated peptides and hemp-derived cannabis products, warned against overuse of testosterone, rejected claims that sunscreen is harmful or blocks vitamin D, and recommended a nutrient-dense diet, strength training, and staying current on vaccines.

Chapters

0:50
Introducing infodemiology
Zomorodi introduces Malaty Rivera, who lays out a three-question test for health content and defines infodemiology and the infodemic.
4:26
From private Instagram to science influencer
Malaty Rivera explains why people should trust her and how her COVID-era Q&A posts grew into a half-million-follower account.
8:44
Measles and politicized science
Malaty Rivera warns of a dangerous relitigation of science, discusses measles deaths, and addresses vaccine risk versus benefit.
15:14
Wakefield and the loss of measles elimination
She traces MMR skepticism to Andrew Wakefield's retracted paper and explains elimination versus eradication.
17:57
Harassment and identity-driven backlash
Malaty Rivera describes threats she has received and argues that vaccine beliefs are tied to identity.
22:26
Expertise crisis and predatory wellness
Discussion of the halo effect, wellness grift targeting women, the anti-vaccine playbook, and historical medical abuses.
31:03
Clean eating and the appeal to nature
Malaty Rivera critiques the 'clean' trope, arguing that nature is not safe by default and the dose makes the poison.
34:42
Hantavirus, measles, and COVID vaccines
She discusses calm mongering during the hantavirus outbreak, misleading headlines, measles revisionism, and COVID as endemic.
43:01
AI and medical advice
Malaty Rivera weighs the dangers of generative AI for self-diagnosis against its value in expert medical use.
47:55
Rapid-fire health questions
Quick takes on peptides, cannabis products, testosterone, sunscreen and vitamin D, and three health no-brainers.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera advises asking who is speaking and their credentials, where the information comes from, and whether it is designed to provoke emotion before sharing health content.
“Number one, who is saying this and what are their credentials? Number two, where is this information coming from?”
Listen from 1:54 · Health misinformation
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera defines infodemiology as the study of information to improve public health, applying epidemiology's questions to information.
“We define it as the study of information to improve public health. It is kind of the version of epidemiology, but about information”
Listen from 2:29 · Infodemiology
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera argues the U.S. is in an extremely dangerous period of redefining established science and exploiting post-pandemic trauma to turn people against evidence.
“we are in an extremely dangerous time in our country's history when it comes to a redefining of established science”
Listen from 9:36 · Vaccine hesitancy
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera states measles killed about 500 U.S. children annually before the MMR vaccine was introduced.
“Measles used to kill 500 children in the United States every single year before the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine was introduced”
Listen from 11:35 · Measles resurgence in the United States
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera acknowledges vaccines carry real risk of adverse events but argues the totality of evidence shows benefits outweigh risks.
“There is risk in vaccines. And anybody who denies that is not being honest. However, we also know from the totality of evidence that the benefits outweigh the risks”
Listen from 12:23 · Vaccine hesitancy
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera says decades of research have shown the MMR vaccine does not cause autism, but Wakefield's retracted claim became the first domino of the anti-science movement.
“the mmr one was almost kind of the the first domino to fall”
Listen from 15:50 · Lancet MMR autism fraud
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera predicts the United States is about to lose its measles elimination status for the first time in decades.
“we are about to lose our measles elimination status in the United States for the first time in decades”
Listen from 15:50 · Measles resurgence in the United States
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera recounts that an FBI agent told her that her and her children's names appeared on dark websites with specific threats of violence.
“an FBI agent called me one day to tell me that my name and my children's names had appeared on dark websites with very specific threats of violence”
Listen from 19:01 · Health misinformation
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera argues that hostility arises because vaccine beliefs are bound up with identity, so pushback feels like a personal attack on a worldview.
“It's so much of it has to do with a person's identity”
Listen from 20:23 · Vaccine hesitancy
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera argues that wellness grift preys on women, especially in midlife, by hyper-diagnosing nonspecific symptoms to sell products.
“there's so much money in the opportunity to sell something to have somebody subscribe to something and I think that women are especially preyed upon in this context”
Listen from 23:09 · Women's health
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera contends that clean water and vaccines have been the greatest advances in longevity.
“the greatest advancement in longevity science has been clean water and vaccines. It's why we're living as long as we are”
Listen from 30:28 · Vaccine hesitancy
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera argues that natural does not mean safe and that the clean-eating trope rests on an appeal to nature fallacy.
“nature has been trying to kill humans since humans came to this planet. Like nature is not safe by default”
Listen from 32:05 · Appeal to nature fallacy
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera says the hantavirus cruise outbreak was a rare, closed event and that media headlines made unrelated cases look like a larger outbreak.
“So it made it look like an outbreak. It made it look bigger than it was”
Listen from 36:36 · Hantavirus cruise ship outbreak
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera says COVID-19 is endemic and will never be eradicated, and that vaccines reduce rather than eliminate risk.
“COVID is going to be with us forever. COVID is like one of those diseases that will never be eradicated”
Listen from 40:03 · COVID-19 pandemic
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera cites Pew, KFF and Reuters data indicating almost half of Americans use social media as their primary health news source.
“almost half of Americans use social media as their primary health news source”
Listen from 42:41 · Health misinformation
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera says AI is essential for medical innovation and diagnostics when used by appropriate experts with proper citations, but worries about its effect on information ecosystems.
“it is an absolutely essential tool in innovation for medicine and for diagnostics in medicine when used by the appropriate experts”
Listen from 46:19 · Artificial intelligence
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera says peptides as a category have many claims but little evidence and are often unregulated.
“Peptides as a category right now is a lot of claims with not a lot of evidence to say what they actually do”
Listen from 48:14 · Peptide therapy
Linked moment · 50:22Skip to 50:22 using a listen link in the info box.
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera rejects claims that sunscreen blocks vitamin D or causes cancer.
“you can wear your SPF and still get vitamin D. That's a misconception that you need to be out in the sun”
Listen from 50:22 · Sunscreen and vitamin D
Jessica Malaty Rivera
Malaty Rivera recommends a nutrient-dense diet, strength training, and staying up to date on vaccines as three health no-brainers.
“Strength training, especially for women to lift weights, to exercise and stay up to date on your vaccines. Those are my three things”
Listen from 51:25

People

In the conversation

Manoush ZomorodiHost of NPR's TED Radio Hour
Jessica Malaty RiveraInfectious disease epidemiologist, science communicator, and executive director of the Infodemiology Initiative

Discussed

Andrew WakefieldFormer British physician whose retracted Lancet paper falsely linked the MMR vaccine to autism
Jen GunterGynecologist and author quoted on misinformation as misogyny
Henrietta LacksWoman whose cells were taken without consent, cited as an example of medical abuse
Gene HackmanAmerican actor and Hoffman's early friend
Pete HegsethU.S. Secretary of Defense overseeing the Iran campaign
Donald TrumpPresident of the United States whose conduct of the Iran war is the episode's main subject

Topics

From the publisher

Bad medical advice is everywhere, from TikTok to chatbots. Epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera is fighting back. This hour, how she’s taking on the internet and helping us figure out who to trust. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on November 14, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Medicine·Health & Fitness·Technology