Dean’s Message from Sten Vermund – Spring 2022

Like thousands of others in Connecticut, I received my COVID-19 vaccine shots at Yale’s Lanman Center. After some transient post-vaccine discomfort, I could begin a return to a more normal life.

Like billions of people world- wide, I had hoped for a COVID-19 vaccine since the virus first appeared. We all remember well the truly dark days filled with misery and death. Communities and cities alike were reduced to ghost towns. People retreated to their homes. Fear was palpable. As an older man (though not too old!), I am particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. We all know that the elderly have suffered the most. Getting sick, and making others sick, was always at the fore-front of personal considerations.

The masks and vaccines have changed all of this. I can protect myself and others; if infected, the consequences are comparatively benign.

As dean, I could not be prouder of the work done here during the long and painful ordeal of the pandemic. Our school distinguished itself during the outbreak and the spread of the virus. This remarkable work did not slow during the period when the vaccines were introduced, and it continues today with a focus on vac-cine hesitancy, molecular surveillance and distribution in low- and middle-income nations.

In these pages of Yale Public

Health, you will learn about YSPH service to Connecticut, as the state carefully navigated its way out of a near-total shutdown with the help of the vaccines. This service also took place on the national and international levels. In the realm of research, our scientists not only contributed to major discoveries related to the COVID-19 vaccines, but they also took leadership roles in studying vaccine development, effectiveness and deployment relating to a host of other diseases.

Our faculty played important roles in public advocacy to change long-standing laws surrounding vaccines, in order to make the public safer. You will read about our distinguished history in vaccinology and the extraordinary work of a YSPH alumna in Bhutan to keep her country safe. Our students share the thoughtful, and often personal, reasons that led them to get vaccinated.

The depth and breadth of expertise at our school is astonishing, and it nicely complements the theme of Yale’s brand-new capital campaign: For Humanity. The work that we do every day in YSPH really is about humanity, about building a better future where people are freer of the ravages of disease and health access inequities. Better health outcomes for all populations and communities is the cornerstone of our mission, the ethos of our school.

I look forward to seeing you soon in person, thanks to the vaccines and the dedicated service of public health professionals here and the world over.