For a large part of the last century, public health has taken on itself to fill the gaps in our broken health system – providing advice, information and health recommendations. But when we are mistaken and have exceeded, the damage is often irreparable. Confidence is built over the years and lost in a few seconds, and we still rebuild the missteps simultaneously.
To name only a few: inaccurate and incoherent advice on masking, bad decisions to close schools, unjustifiable mandates on civil freedoms and false allegations concerning natural immunity. But the biggest missteps were on vaccines and some continue to date. A few months following their approval, vaccines face any third -party advantage in terms of reduction in transmission, but they were still mandated – through political and social pressure. It was an offense against personal autonomy that will take years to overcome. Even now, the CDC recommends that 6 -month -old children receive covid vaccinations – terribly disconnected from reality and with most parents, who have less faith than ever in the merit of the CDC recommendations.
A study on health affairs revealed that after the pandemic, only 37% of the CDC CDC public information trusts the CDC and only 25% of the trust and only local health services. Doctors are doing better, but the trend is constantly alarming. A recent Jama survey has shown that confidence in doctors has increased from 71% in 2020 to 40% in 2024. The antidote to this free fall in the public is simply to start telling the truth. Until confidence is restored, the majority will not take the advice of public health, whatever its end.
Over the past two decades, public health agencies at the state and federal government have considered it a main role in pushing pharmaceuticals, especially vaccines. Some have even described this practice as “cornerstone” of public health. There are appropriate examples of government recommendations, such as the encouragement of routine projections such as colonoscopies or PAP smear and facilitating access, especially for the poor. But the promotion of specific pharmaceutical products amounts to a different level, in particular when the manufacturer is exempt from responsibility for the damage caused by the drug, as is the case for many vaccines. It is understood that advanced products will benefit some and will cause damage to others, but public health pushes them anyway with a single and maximum collectivist mentality whose main objective is maximum compliance.
In this ideology, the sacrifice of some is acceptable and necessary for the “greatest good”.
As a merchants, we must recognize that our rights come to us as individuals. We must reject this utility approach and restore medical decision -making in its place: between doctors and patients. Perhaps there are treatments that every human being should take, but they are rare and things that are good should generally not be pushed by the government. Medical decision -making is a zero -sum game: when external forces are involved, patient autonomy is sacrificed. We must allow people to make better decisions for themselves, keeping in mind that the maximization of advantages for individuals will result in maximum advantages for the population as a whole.
To rebuild trust, we have to focus on problems that really matter for people. Unfortunately, many public health services are always stuck in pandemic response mode. Not known for agility, they continue to push the same advice and recommendations half a decade ago. Each business owner knows that to promote something, you must choose not to promote something else. We have seen many examples of this in the past four years, in which people have missed routine projections and cancers are not diagnosed. Treatment of drug addiction was put on the rear burner while deaths by opioid overdoses have argued. Mental health disorders have been left unattended, spreading in the crises of roaming and crime. In Louisiana, maternal and infantile mortality remains close to the worst in the country. Throughout this time, chronic disease rates continue to crawl at crisis levels. These are the post-country priorities of the Louisiana Ministry of Health.
As a nation, we must recognize that there is no miracle pill for the main health problems of the population we face. It is unlikely that the solution to the increase in spending and the decline in results in our country is in the form of a pill or a shot. A large part of the solution will probably come down to the usual hard work to improve diet, increase exercise and make better lifestyle choices.
The government should admit the limits of its role in people’s lives and to withdraw its tentacles from the practice of medicine. The path to the retirement of public confidence lies in the recognition of false steps, the refocusing of impartial data collection and the provision of transparent and balanced information so that people make their own health decisions. By demonstrating real integrity and respect for personal autonomy, public health agencies can start to repair the rifts they have created. In the end, the restoration of this trust requires the return of medical decisions to the doctor-patient relationship, where informed personalized care is guided by compassion and expertise rather than by government mandates.
Sincerely,
Ralph L. Abraham, MD
General of the Louisiana surgeon
Wyche T. Coleman, III, MD
General of assistant surgeon