About this episode

Jay Bhattacharya discusses the legacy of COVID-19 policies and the need for a replication revolution in science.

Jay Bhattacharya returns to GoodFellows—now as NIH director and acting CDC director—for a candid conversation on what COVID got wrong, why science needs a replication revolution, and how to restore public trust. Jay takes on the legacy of lockdowns, school closures, Fauci, gain-of-function research, China, AI-enabled biosecurity risks, vaccine questions, and the fight to make scientific dissent possible again. Then: Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, AI guardrails, democratic socialism, and what Homer can still teach us about war. Subscribe to GoodFellows for clarity on today’s biggest social, economic, and geostrategic shifts — only on GoodFellows.

People in this episode

Guest: Jay Bhattacharya

Topics covered

• COVID-19
• public trust in science
• vaccines
• geopolitics
• AI and biosecurity
• democratic socialism
• scientific dissent

Keywords

• COVID-19
• vaccines
• public trust
• Fauci
• AI
• biosecurity
• Iran
• democratic socialism
• scientific dissent

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NIH, CDC, China, AI

Books & works: Homer

Places: Iran, Strait of Hormuz

More episodes of GoodFellows: Conversations on Economics, History & Geopolitics

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• Endless Summer: Iran, Woke Two?, and the George Costanza Theory of War · August 20, 2026 · 1h 4m

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