Washington Post Leadership changes at federal health agencies are eroding trust in public health recommendations, with more Americans expecting to lose confidence than gain it, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation.
The findings come as public health guidance is under intense scrutiny during a growing measles outbreak and renewed debate over the safety of vaccines.
More than 4 in 10 U.S. adults (44 percent) said having new people in charge of federal public health agencies will make them less trustful of public health recommendations, while 28 percent expected to trust them more. The survey of more than 3,300 Americans also found a sharp partisan divide: 76 percent of Democrats said they will lose trust, compared with 57 percent of Republicans who expect to gain more faith in agency recommendations.