Health and Human Services chief blames ‘disinformation’ for eroding trust in public health agencies
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra claimed that “instant information and disinformation” are responsible for low trust in health officials.
In an interview published by The Washington Post on Sunday, Becerra discussed resigning as fewer Americans trust public health agencies since the 2020 pandemic.
“Sitting in his office at the Department of Health and Human Services headquarters, the nation’s top health official pointed to the culprit: what he said was a media climate that drowned out reliable information. False claims about vaccines are rampant online; government health officials at press conferences Experts have little influence compared to those who are influential.
“I can’t go head-to-head with social media,” Becerra said.
On January 12, 2023, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra spoke during a visit to a pharmacy in Washington. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarck/File Photo)
Flashback: META’s “history of censorship,” fact-checking woes under Trump, Biden administrations
He defended the Biden administration’s decisions, such as enforcing vaccine authorizations or encouraging social media sites to remove “misinformation” about the coronavirus pandemic. Becerra insists his department did the right thing based on the information it had at the time.
“Every opportunity I have to do what the science and the evidence tells me will protect Americans and save lives … I would do it again,” Becerra said.
He wonders whether the Department of Health and Human Services or any public health agency can regain the trust of the American people following online influencers.
“Do I think the American public has gotten back to a place of trust, whether it’s the Affordable Care Act or vaccines, like they trust their pastor or their rabbi? No,” Becerra said. “But then again, I don’t think pastors … have the status they once had either.”
Becerra defended the Biden administration’s response to the pandemic against online critics. (AP Photo)
“I don’t know what else we can do,” he added. “If anyone has some good ideas, I’m more than willing to listen.”
While Becerra criticizes misinformation online, social media companies began attacking President Biden weeks before he leaves office.
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed the Biden administration’s pressure on his company to review during the pandemic during a nearly three-hour interview with Joe Rogan on Friday Critics of vaccines and other pandemic-related policies.
“During the Biden administration, when they were trying to roll out the vaccine program,” Zuckerberg said. “As they’re trying to push the program, they’re also trying to censor anyone who’s basically opposed to the program. They’re pushing us very hard to remove things that are honest, true. They’re basically pushing us to say, you know, anyone who says vaccine There may be side effects, you basically need to delete them. I was like, ‘We’re not going to do that, we’re obviously not going to do that, I mean, that’s an undisputed fact.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the tense relationship between his company and the Biden administration during the pandemic. (iStock)
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He added, “I mean, basically, these people in the Biden administration would call our team and scream at them, curse at them, like… these documents, it’s all there.”
Zuckerberg also announced on Tuesday that Meta would lift some fact-checking restrictions to promote “free speech.”
