Trust in Science and Medicine? P5
Fall 2025
Photo / Image Source: Unsplash,
Surveys of shifting U.S. attitudes reveal concerning trends — and some surprises
Was the pandemic a turning point?
Well, we were not surveying before the pandemic, but in general we’ve seen a decline in trust compared to historical norms, and I do think the pandemic was a turning point.
The reasons for that are complex. In part it was, as I said, an effort to undermine mainstream ideas about science and health. I also think we in the public health community did not help our cause by making very definitive statements that we then had to walk back. It is normal in science for hypotheses to change, but COVID was, for many people, their first exposure to how science works. I do believe you get to the truth, you get to the reality, but it’s not always an easy path. People saw — many of them for the first time — how science and medicine can really struggle to establish the best treatment or the best public health policy when we are scrambling to learn about a new disease.
How have you been impacted by COVID?
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