Instead of pouring public funds into private industry—as the United States did with COVID-19 vaccines—we must build public capacity and prioritize public objectives.

Until COVID-19, tuberculosis killed more people each year than any other infectious disease. Its rising toll is increasingly fueled by mass incarceration.

To meet the challenge of enduring spread in the years to come, we must prioritize primary care and community health over the profit-driven status quo.

Physicians have been fighting for health justice for decades. To succeed, we need practical models for collectively remaking our systems of care.

Our mastery over microbes is only a few decades old. It is also far more precarious than we imagine.

Concerns about long-term side effects have helped fuel vaccine hesitancy. An immunologist explains why we can be confident in vaccine safety.

If we want to address vaccine hesitancy in the health care system, we must treat its lowest paid workers better.

Its authority derives not from unbiased scientists but from the institutions and norms that structure their work. Fighting mistrust requires more public engagement with policy, not unqualified deference to experts.

Can today’s crises inspire action at the scales required to think about planetary sustainability?