Richard Hughes IV

Vaccines were once the ultimate symbol of human progress. Today, they are the fault line of American politics. Few know this divide better than Richard Hughes: a former Moderna executive, a public health scholar, and now, the lawyer suing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Drawing on his own intimate experiences navigating the vaccine system, Richard unravels the historical, cultural, and political forces that slowly reshaped public confidence long before COVID-19 made the cracks impossible to ignore. From personal reckonings that shaped his own understanding in his home state of Arkansas, in our nation’s capital, and across the country, he shows how individual lives and national choices collide in ways we’ve never fully confronted.