How Public Health Discredited Itself
How Public Health Discredited Itself
The article argues that the public health profession has been corrupted by politics over the past 50 years, shifting from fighting infectious diseases to advancing ideological goals. The author, John Tierney, cites several examples, including flawed dietary guidelines on fat and salt, the crusade against less harmful nicotine alternatives like vaping, and most notably, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He contends that lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccine policies were often based on political bias rather than scientific evidence, leading to a significant loss of public trust. The piece concludes that to regain credibility, public health must return to its original principles of evidence-based science and humility.
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definitely some hot takes about past decisions, ignoring their good intentions and difficult paths towards selecting an approach (taking no action is a decision in itself).
with that said, there is a strand worth following here. scientist and public health in america need to be trusted to do their job. communicating their decision making framework is deserving of more rigidness and protecting a stronger balance between individual freedom and measurable harm to others individual freedom might be a good place to start.
comparing the decisions in the US to other countries is worth avoiding. while we might learn from them, their society (size, makeup and location) differ enough that each country deserves to take into account what is unique for them as they plot the best way to protect the health of its citizens in a way that gains trust and not erodes it.
it won't be easy and given what we are seeing today in these institutions, it won't be anytime soon either.
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