Lost Trust Leads To Lives Lost: Rebuilding Vaccine Confidence For A Healthier Nation

One of my earliest childhood memories was watching my father, a doctor, make house calls to his patients around Nashville. Witnessing his healing, empathy, and dedication to the science of medicine first inspired me to follow in his footsteps — not just as a physician, but in his passion to make the world a healthier, better place for all. It inevitably guided me to the halls of the U.S. Capitol as a senator representing my home state of Tennessee.

In those halls, I saw the greatness of this country at its best moments — times of bipartisanship, when the health, happiness, well-being, and freedom of the American people were prioritized above all else.

That was 17 years ago. Since then, we have watched that bipartisanship crumble and those good moments become fewer and farther between, reaching a precipice during the COVID-19 pandemic –– a precipice we are dangerously close to careening over.