Episode 156
Can We Repair Trust in Public Health after COVID with Dr. Aaron Pomerantz
Throughout the pandemic that has raged over the past two years, the press and public have leaned heavily on experts on navigating our way through uncertainty. The most prominent member of this class of public health experts is Dr. Anthony Fauci who is essentially the face of the pandemic response and sets policy used by most state, county, and local public health officials. Unfortunately, through a number of missteps and poor communication techniques, the trust in Dr. Fauci and public health in general have suffered tremendously this year.
How Mistrust Develops
Dr. Pomerantz points out that the loss of trust in public authorities is multifactorial and influenced by things like over reassuring the public, panicking and overreacting, flubbing the rationale for lockdowns, abandoning the flatten the curve plan, and insisting that public health be in charge of many aspects of the pandemic response. All of these points were areas where the public health authorities made mistakes leading to a continued erosion of trust in their abilities, motivations, and perception of expertise.
Can We Rebuild Lost Trust in Public Institutions?
Losing trust in public health, or the health system in general, is not one that should be viewed lightly. It can have profound long lasting effects. This is exhibited by the research from Dr. Sara Lowes (from episode 120) where she found distrust towards modern medicine generations after unconsented medical experimentation in parts of previous colonial France (Congo). What is amazing is the passing down of distrust towards medical authorities for years despite obvious advances in medicine and ethics.
Unfortunately, for trust to be rebuilt there must be a tremendous effort put in by public health authorities. This begins with a big mea culpa for all their mistakes in messaging and getting things wrong (like mask flip flops, vaccines stopping transmission, etc.) and also the endless shaming and 'othering' of those who run contrary to their edicts. The most critical aspect of all of this is to bring back the part of the public that has been pushed out of the group by showing empathy. Unless that is done - and soon - we risk delegitimizing public health for generations.
show notes
Episode 156: Today's show
Commentary: 8 Things US Pandemic Communicators Still Get Wrong: This is excellent piece written by Dr. Peter Sandman that we discuss where he identifies problems in the COVID public health community.
Episode 120: Dr. Sara Lowes discusses her research where the colonial powers in central Africa conducted medical experiments on villagers and those villages had a significantly lower trust in modern medicine many generations later.
We Are Libertarians: The Paradocs is a proud partner and member of this outstanding podcast network.
Made Simply Web Site Creations: This is the great, affordable website service that built my wife's podcast site. I cannot recommend this company more to someone looking for creating a website.
Always Andy's Mom: Home of my wife, Marcy's, podcast for parents grieving or those looking to help them.
YouTube for Paradocs: Here you can watch the video of my late son singing his solo on the Paradocs YouTube page.
Patreon - Become a show supporter today and visit my Patreon page for extra bonus material. Every dollar raised goes towards the production and promotion of the show.
