Vaccines

At the WIRED Health summit in Boston on September 9, we hosted some of the leading experts in CRISPR, whole-genome sequencing, vaccines, and more for a series of eye-opening conversations and keynotes. If you weren’t able to join us in person, no worries; you can watch them all right here.

From 2025 Breakthrough Prize winner David Liu to Moderna CEO Stepháne Bancel, WIRED Health speakers gave deep insights into what’s next for gene-editing, cancer treatment, and a host of other cutting-edge topics. We were also joined by neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who discussed chronic pain and his new book, It Doesn’t Have to Hurt: Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life.

The next WIRED Health event will take place April 17 in London. In the meantime, get caught up on our Boston summit below.

Correcting Genetic Errors with CRISPR

Treatment for genetic diseases like sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia are hard to design, but ongoing CRISPR clinical trials offer new hope for patients. WIRED managing editor Hemal Jhaveri spoke with 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences winner David Liu to discuss how new genetic-editing tools can fix the pathogenic gene mutations that cause thousands of diseases.

Creating a Brain in a Computer

In the past two decades, MIT neuroscientist Ed Boyden has invented novel tools to map and control the brain. Now, he’s building the world’s first computer simulation of one. In this WIRED Health keynote, he spoke about how that invention can revolutionize AI, unlock new treatments for neurodiseases, and even help better understand the human condition.

The Rise of AgeTech

From digital brain training to at-home screening devices, technology is transforming how and where people 50 and over live while managing conditions like dementia and chronic diseases. AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan spoke with WIRED executive editor Brian Barrett about the promise of AgeTech, the booming longevity economy, and how startups are innovating to help us thrive as we age.

The Promise of Whole-Genome Sequencing

Nationwide whole-genome sequencing projects are being launched by governments around the world, from the United Kingdom to the United Arab Emirates. Harvard geneticist George Church and Orchid founder and CEO Noor Siddiqui spoke with WIRED staff writer Emily Mullin about how whole-genome sequencing is being used to prevent genetic diseases.

Using Light to Treat Cancers, Mental Diseases, and Much More

In this keynote, former Google and Facebook technical executive Mary Lou Jepsen—now chairman and founder of Openwater—shared an exclusive preview of her new invention: a portable modular device designed to combine ultrasound, holography, and cutting-edge physics to kill cancer tumors and other diseases with precision.

Winning the War on Cancer

Cancer care still relies on slow, expensive procedures developed decades ago. Liquid biopsies are changing that—replacing CT scans and surgical biopsies with a single blood test that can detect cancers at an early stage and accelerate treatments. The cofounder and CEO of Guardant Health, Helmy Eltoukhy, sat down with WIRED Health curator João Medeiros to discuss how precision oncology is reshaping the cancer patient experience, and how liquid biopsies will soon be part of routine health care.

The Cancer Vaccine Revolution

What’s next for the company that developed a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine in record time? Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel spoke with WIRED’s Brian Barrett about the biotech company’s exciting work on individualized mRNA cancer therapies and other promising cancer treatments under development. Bancel also responded to the Trump administration’s recent anti-mRNA rhetoric.

It Doesn’t Have to Hurt: A Conversation with Sanjay Gupta

More than 52 million people worldwide suffer from daily chronic pain. CNN chief medical correspondent and Emmy Award-winning neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta joined WIRED Health curator João Medeiros to talk about his new book and the best science-backed methods to treat pain.

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The White House is stacked with some of the dumbest people on the planet. But at least sometimes we can get a chuckle out of it.

President Donald Trump’s top spokesperson, the 28-year-old Karoline Leavitt, was asked by reporters Thursday about changes to government policies on vaccines, which will make it harder for Americans to get vaccinated against covid-19. And she delivered a pretty funny malapropism, replacing the correct word with a similar-sounding word.

“What I will tell you is that the FDA recently revoked the emergency youth authorizations for three covid vaccinations while simultaneously green-lighting four new COVID-19 vaccines with 2025 and 2026 formulas,” Leavitt said in a hilarious flub.

It appears Leavitt was trying to talk about the emergency use authorization of the covid-19 vaccines. And just in case you thought it was a one-time flub, she said it again.

“The reason for the revocation of that emergency youth authorization is because obviously the covid pandemic and the public health emergency is over,” Leavitt said.

The White House Press Secretary went on to supposedly “correct the record” about “misinformation” regarding the new vaccine policies coming out of Robert F. Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Secretary is a longtime anti-vaccine advocate who is currently trying to destroy America’s public health infrastructure with absolute bullshit.

“But just to correct the record, because there’s been a lot of misinformation on this, the FDA’s decision does not affect the availability of COVID vaccines for Americans who want them,” Leavitt said. “We believe in individual choice. That’s a promise both the president and the secretary have made, and it’s a promise they have now delivered on.”

Trump fired the director of the CDC, Susan Monarez, on Wednesday, and at least four senior officials at the public health agency resigned. By all appearances, Monarez couldn’t abide the Trump regime’s anti-vaccine policies, which are making it harder for people to get vaccinated. The new changes announced Wednesday mean that only people who are 65+ or have an underlying condition that makes them vulnerable to severe disease from covid are eligible. What that means in practice remains to be seen.

But Leavitt didn’t acknowledge the new roadblocks to vaccination and instead spouted her bullshit about how anyone can get the shot if they want it. And while the topic is dead-serious, it’s good to laugh at how idiotic these people are sometimes.

Leavitt has a habit of saying the wrong word, like that time she called the Indo-Pacific the “Indo-specific,” delivering it with the unearned confidence of the dumbest person you’ve ever met.

Everybody misspeaks on occasion, but Leavitt does it so frequently that the White House press corps seems to just take it in stride. It’s a wonder that they don’t just break out in laughter whenever she takes the podium to deliver her latest tirade about Trump being God’s greatest gift to mankind.

Remember when she delivered that tangent in April and proclaimed the employment rate was at an all-time low?

She meant the unemployment rate, of course. Unless she was just giving us a preview of what’s to come. Given the way Trump is acting, we can’t be sure of anything anymore.