What can the social science contribute during a public health crisis? Reflecting on this question, we turn to the medical anthropologist David Napier, who has developed research tools for understanding the complex drivers of health vulnerability and resilience. Interviewed by Nolwenn Bühler, he shares his vision of the Covid-19 crisis, and the role social sciences should be playing in understanding why populations either trust or mistrust policymakers. In that a crisis, by definition, involves demands on limited resources, social trust is itself put to the test. Napier cautions us about what this means at the level of inclusive health, and why we must be especially aware not only of how response policies themselves can create new vulnerabilities, but of why we must actively combat the xenophobia and stigma that insecurity can generate.