The article emphasizes that rejecting evidence-based strategies against infectious diseases and undermining vaccines will not improve population health.[1] Scientific fields such as public health, epidemiology, microbiology, and vaccine and drug development have greatly reduced the risks of infectious diseases, increasing life expectancy in high-income countries by almost 40 years over the past century, largely due to a decline in childhood deaths from infections.[1] Today, chronic diseases are the leading cause of death, but epidemics and pandemics still pose a major risk.[1] The COVID-19 pandemic reduced US life expectancy by more than 2 years in 2019–2021.[1] Growing population, dense urbanization, global travel, climate change and pressure on ecosystems increase the incidence of epidemics.[1] Studies put the probability of another pandemic of the size of COVID-19 in the next 25 years at about 50%.[1] Active monitoring of new diseases is essential everywhere in the world for early detection and response.[1] The world faces the risk of polyepidemics, where every minute of accelerating the development of preventive technologies is crucial.[1]