Author: Kim Berard
You know, I've gotten to the point where I'm trying to ignore what Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said. “Schizophrenia can be cured with a ketogenic diet”? Of course, no matter what. “The protein wars are over”? Who knew there was such a war? Is a Carnivore Diet a Good Way to Lose Weight and Gain “Clear Mind”? It really doesn’t show up
His most dangerous rhetoric, though, may have been related to vaccines. He was considered a vaccine skeptic — no, a critic — long before he was appointed HHS secretary, but serving as secretary has allowed him to put his anti-vaccination views into action. He has reorganized the committee that makes vaccine recommendations to include people who share his skepticism.
The committee has made significant changes to the childhood immunization program, but it is not yet complete. Not only is the chairman of the Vaccine Advisory Committee skeptical of the measles vaccine, he is also not enthusiastic about making the polio vaccine mandatory. His committee is expected to focus on a coronavirus vaccine next.
One particularly outspoken committee member, Dr. Robert Malone, said: “I'm not deaf to the calls that we need to take COVID-19 vaccine mRNA products off the market. All I can say is, stay tuned and wait for the upcoming ACIP meeting. If the FDA doesn't take action, there are other entities that will,” he told new york times Scientists or regulators who claim that COVID-19 vaccines are safe “are either dishonest, fail to consider context, or are ignorant.”
At the same time, we can say that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nominee for surgeon general is important in the MAHA movement but not so much in medical professional circles because her medical license is in “inactive” status. Her own website boasts that she is “considered controversial because her work challenges the economic and cultural foundations of America's health care, agriculture, and food systems.”
The impact of these attitudes is neither academic nor far-future: We are already in the midst of an unprecedented measles outbreak that many attribute to the vaccine skepticism spawned and encouraged by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his ilk.
What prompted me to write this article was a new poll from KFF: Trust in CDC and views on changes to federal childhood vaccine program. The most important finding: “Public trust in the CDC remains at its lowest point since the COVID-19 pandemic.” Well, you won't be surprised.
“Six years ago, 85% of Americans and 90% of Republicans trusted the CDC. Now less than half trust the CDC when it comes to vaccines,” said KFF President and CEO Drew Altman. “The war over COVID-19, science and vaccines has deprived the country of a trusted national voice on vaccines, and that trust will take time to restore.”
What I find particularly interesting is that, as Dr. Altman said, before the COVID-19 pandemic, trust in the CDC was high and cut across party lines. Republicans, however, lost trust during the pandemic and largely never regained it. It took the Trump administration to make Democrats lose trust — but in fact, they still have higher trust (55% vs. 43%). Independents are slightly ahead of Republicans but well below Democrats.
Specifically, regarding trust in childhood vaccine recommendations, only about 44% have some or a lot of confidence in federal agencies like the CDC and FDA, and that confidence doesn't change much by party ID or support for MAHA. For example, MAHA supporters are 47% and non-MAHA supporters are 43%. What does it mean for MAHA that believers do not believe in what the Creator of MAHA is doing?
There are more differences when it comes to the specific new schedule for childhood immunizations: 83% of Democrats think it will have a negative impact on children, compared with 54% of independents and just 23% of Republicans. The new recommendations have a huge impact on trust in the CDC and FDA among Democrats and independents, but not among Republicans (who, as I said, don’t already have much trust).
Confidence in both the polio and MMR vaccines is high, and across party lines, confidence in the hepatitis B and flu vaccines has declined and begun to diverge, and the partisan divide in the COVID-19 vaccine is also wide – 79% of Democrats are confident, but only 28% of Republicans are confident, and even just 45% of independents are confident.
Of course, this didn't happen in a vacuum. A December Pew Research Center survey found that trust in the federal government is at an all-time low, with just 17% saying they trust the government in Washington to do the right thing “almost always” (2%) or “most of the time” (15%). A year ago that number was 22%. Views are divided along party lines: Only 9% of Democrats trust the federal government, compared with 26% of Republicans. The previous year, when President Biden took office, that trust was reversed, with 35% of Democrats expressing trust compared with 11% of Republicans.
But let’s not forget this lesson: The vast majority of people distrust the federal government, and it has been in decline for more than two decades.
The lack of trust is not limited to government. Gallup's work ethic ratings found declines in nearly all professions. Nurses (75%), doctors (57%) and pharmacists (53%) continue to lead the rankings, but are all trending downward. Members of Congress are near the bottom in approval ratings for car salespeople (7%), just ahead of telemarketers (5%).
Too bad Gallup didn't ask the CDC.
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We live in a world filled with misinformation, where facts go unshared in an information bubble, and everyone is told to trust their own judgment rather than “experts,” a term that has somehow become pejorative. It benefits the powerful and the richest, but hurts everyone else.
Neither the CDC nor the FDA are perfect organizations, and even the NIH has its problems. But the destruction of expertise, replacing science with personal opinions and biases, is damaging the remaining trust in these organizations, ultimately hurting us all.
You may think that a measles outbreak won't affect you or your children, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Kim is a former electronics marketing executive for a large blues program and editor of The Late and Regretful tincture.ionow a regular THCB contributor
