As they entered office at the height of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2021, Xavier Becerra and his allies had a plan to restore Americans’ faith in the nation’s beleaguered public health agencies.

Becerra, tapped by President Joe Biden to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, empowered career government scientists and experts muzzled under the Trump administration. Biden officials took on social media posts they said spread disinformation about coronavirus vaccines, urging Facebook and other companies to remove them. The White House mounted a nationwide vaccination campaign, convinced the results would win over skeptics.

Four years later, the pandemic has receded. But trust in America’s health agencies has not recovered. The percentage of adults who regarded the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as “excellent” or “good” fell from 64 percent in April 2019 to 40 percent in October 2021 — a rating that has stubbornly refused to budge in the subsequent three years, according to Gallup polls, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to rebuild confidence. Other surveys found similar declines in trust and approval for federal health agencies, and the people who lead them, driven by GOP skepticism.

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