WH’s Jha: Many ‘Used Every Mistake’ from Officials ‘to Undermine’ ‘Confidence in Public Health’

During an interview with NPR aired on Tuesday’s “All Things Considered,” White House COVID-19 Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha stated that while public health officials have made mistakes that have to be owned and addressed, there are many people who “used every mistake, every misstep by a public health person to undermine people’s confidence in public health, to undermine people’s confidence in vaccines.” And “We’ve got to counter that with better information.”

While discussing the lack of public trust in public health officials Jha said, [relevant remarks begin around 6:00] “[W]e have to rebuild that trust. Look, this is an effort that all of us have to engage in. There were clearly mistakes that public health officials made. We’ve got to own that. We’ve got to address that. There [are] also a lot of people out there who have used every mistake, every misstep by a public health person to undermine people’s confidence in public health, to undermine people’s confidence in vaccines. We’ve got to counter that with better information. It’s not just one or two people. As a country, we really have to do a better job of communicating and teaching people how evidence works, how science works, how public health works.”

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