Trust in Public Health Science after the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Pessimistic Outlook
Carl Hoefer (University of Barcelona)
In 2020 a “perfect storm” of ingredients came together, with devastating results for trust in public health science and infectious-disease medicine. The storm was most powerful in America, but serious impacts were felt across the Western world. In my talk I will briefly sketch how the elements of this storm came together and produced widespread public distrust in science, a distrust that seems likely to last many years. To illustrate the just causes of the distrust I will review a sample of CDC and FDA publications related to face-masking and vaccine effectiveness, before ending by assessing whether anything can be done to remedy the situation.
