Just like the media, trust in public health agencies has plummeted over the last several years. It's all self-inflicted, and the natural outcome of spending years fear-mongering, straight-up lying, and using your authority to lock down people's lives (while not living by your own rules).
COVID exposed a lot of petty tyrants. To which we say GOOD.
And now social media has taken a bigger role in spreading news -- much to the dismay of the media -- the public health agencies who ruined their reputations are having a hard time regaining public trust.
Not because they've done anything to earn it, mind you:
Trust in public health agencies has fallen and not recovered.
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 12, 2025
I asked Biden’s top health official what he thinks went wrong.
“I can’t go toe to toe with social media,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said. pic.twitter.com/nZM1dSscHl
All they had to do was not lie and not be partisan hacks.
They couldn't do that.
We did an exit interview in @SecBecerra’s office last week
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 12, 2025
Becerra thinks he achieved goals he set four years ago — drug-price negotiations for Medicare, record-high ACA enrollment, record-low uninsured rate.
But one goal eluded him: restoring Americans’ faith in public health. pic.twitter.com/6nAT4dx433
That faith will never be restored.
How does that writer say this? Well:
I pointed out the flip side of Becerra’s achievements. Covid mandates helped ↑ vaccination rates, but fueled anger.
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 12, 2025
“Every chance I have to do what the science and the evidence is telling me … I’d do it again,” Becerra said.
Our interview here:https://t.co/0UDGDENzVE
See?
They'd do the same things again. Including vaccine mandates.
They. Learned. NOTHING.
Perhaps it’s bc public health agencies made some huge errors associated with the pandemic and blamed everyone in sight while holding themselves constantly above accountability.
— Mitchell Wexler (@MitchWex) January 12, 2025
Exactly this.
Stop lying to us.
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) January 12, 2025
They can't help themselves.
Translation: He's an incompetent who can no longer contain the truth.
— JWF (@JammieWF) January 12, 2025
All they had to do was tell the truth. They couldn't do that.
Public health agencies did this to themselves when they literally got everything wrong during covid.
— Caballero (@HughAkston0) January 12, 2025
'The vaccinated won't spread the virus.'
Fascinating stuff here.
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) January 12, 2025
Biden threw any hope of restoring trust in health agencies out when he appointed Xavier Becerra - political hack with no health experience (beyond suing nuns for not performing abortions) to lead HHS. https://t.co/oCqeJxjv1M
All self-inflicted.
Public health officials also kinda brought this on themselves. https://t.co/QxKtROVUHD pic.twitter.com/23sQZiQrhY
— Adam Loewy (@LoewyLawFirm) January 12, 2025
They sure did.
Public officials who say s**t like this are bad public officials. It's basically saying "people don't find me trustworthy enough to believe me over t**ntsniffer420 on TikTok" https://t.co/zVLAyn8ZwB
— Phelan O (@Pwneill) January 12, 2025
No lies detected.
Public health agencies immolated their own credibility in the summer of 2020 by blessing off on the protesting and then on a state funeral while telling us not to leave the house.
— Virginia Yankee (@VirginiaYankee1) January 12, 2025
There has been zero reckoning with this. Blaming social media is unfathomably tone deaf https://t.co/0oxCWN68Tz
Completely tone deaf.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member