New Kaiser Family Foundation poll results released Thursday show that trust in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is at its lowest level since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. These results come on the heels of significant public health announcements.
KFF said this latest tracking poll was fielded a day after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and President Donald Trump warned pregnant women against using the common over-the-counter painkiller Tylenol due to claims regarding autism. Results were also published days after the CDC announced new vaccine schedule recommendations.
Prior to that announcement, trust in the CDC to give accurate information about vaccines was at 50%, down from 63% in September 2023 based on the KFF results. Among Democrats it was higher, at 64%, compared to 39% of Republicans and 47% of independents, though trust among Democrats and independents have dropped over the past two years.
With the appointment of Kennedy to the head of the HHS – a department that oversees the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – Republican trust in the CDC rebounded slightly this April. However, the latest KFF poll showed it was lower than the 40% recorded in September 2023. Kennedy has called his approach to public health “Make America Healthy Again” or “MAHA” in the style of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” or “MAGA” movement.
KFF noted that declining trust in the CDC has been a continuing trend in its polling data.
“At the same time, majorities say they trust vaccine information from the American Medical Association (AMA, 64% of the public) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP, 69% of parents), two physicians’ organizations that have been recently removed from federal vaccine workgroups,” said KFF.
Shakeups so far this year at the CDC have included the departure of Trump appointee Susan Monarez as director of the agency after less than a month in the position. She replaced Mandy Cohen, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, and reportedly sparred with Kennedy over vaccine policy. Monarez was replaced by Acting Director of the CDC and Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill. Kennedy also made headlines when he called for a “clean sweep” of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices over the summer.
“Amidst a series of recent changes to federal vaccine policy, majorities of the public disapprove of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s overall job performance (59%) as well as his handling of U.S. vaccine policy (62%),” said KFF of its recent poll results. “Views of Kennedy are largely partisan, with most Republicans and MAGA supporters approving of his overall job performance and his handling of vaccine policy, while large majorities of Democrats disapprove. Just one-third (35%) of adults say they trust Kennedy to provide reliable vaccine information, including 67% of Republicans, 27% of independents, and 13% of Democrats.”
Most parents in the U.S. (70%) said they are opposed to removing public school vaccine requirements in their state. Florida, a Republican-led state just became the first in the nation to announce an end to vaccine requirements, on the heels of measles outbreaks in multiple states that resulted in three deaths.
A little under half (48%) of Republican and Republican-leaning parents supported removing public school vaccine requirements, and Republican parents (62%) are far more likely than Democratic parents (26%) to say vaccinating children is a personal choice.
Political partisanship is apparent when looking at trust in the latest advice from the Republican Trump administration regarding Tylenol. While 50% of Republicans said they believe it is “probably true” that taking Tylenol in pregnancy increases the risk of children developing autism, just 29% of independents and 12% of Democrats said the same.
“Overall, just 4% of adults say it is ‘definitely true’ that taking Tylenol during pregnancy increases the risk of the child developing autism, while a much larger share (35%) say the claim is ‘definitely false.’” KFF said. “Most adults – including majorities across many demographics – express uncertainty, saying the unproven claim is either ‘probably true’ or ‘probably false.’”