Poll Finds Public Trust in CDC At Its Lowest Point Since Start of COVID-19 Pandemic
A KFF Tracking Poll found that “public trust in the CDC remains near its lowest point since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.” CIDRAP has the news.
KFF’s president and CEO, Drew Altman, said that “six years ago, 85% of Americans, and 90% of Republicans, trusted the CDC. Now less than half trust the CDC on vaccines.”
The survey was conducted among 1,426 U.S. adults from January 13 to 20, and it comes in the wake of a drawdown in recommended vaccines for infants spearheaded by HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Less than half of adults, only 47%, “say they have a ‘great deal’ or ‘fair amount’ of trust in the CDC to provide reliable vaccine information. Trust among Democrats has fallen 9 percentage points since September 2025 (from 64% to 55%), which is down significantly from 88% in September 2023. Among Republicans, trust in the CDC as a source of reliable vaccine information is 43%; among independents, it’s 46%.”
Most adults also say they have “’little’ to ‘no confidence’ in federal health agencies to make recommendations for childhood vaccines, with three in 10 respondents (29%) saying they have no confidence ‘at all.’” Only 38% of adults believe “federal health agencies make decisions based on science rather than personal beliefs.”
The majority also disapproves of Kennedy’s performance as HHS secretary; “55% disapprove of how Kennedy is handling his role, compared with 44% who say they approve.” Views are sharply divided among partisan lines.
