Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra claimed that “real-time information and misinformation” were responsible for Decreased trust in health officials.
In an interview published By The Washington Post On Sunday, Becerra discussed leaving office as the number of Americans trusting public health agencies has declined since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
“Sitting in his office at the Department of Health and Human Services, America's top health official identified the culprit: a media climate that he says is suppressing reliable information. False claims about vaccines are spreading online; government health experts at press conferences are barely making any impact compared to influencers who” They have a large following,” the report stated.
“I can’t deal with social media,” Becerra said.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks during a visit to a pharmacy in Washington on January 12, 2023. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/archive photo)
He defended the Biden administration's decisions such as imposing vaccine mandates or encouraging social media sites to remove “misinformation” regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Becerra insisted his administration did the right thing based on the information they had at the time.
“Every opportunity I get to do what the science and evidence tells me will protect Americans and save lives… I would do it again,” Becerra said.
He wondered whether the Department of Health and Human Services or any public health agency could restore the American people's trust in online influencers.
“Do I think the American public has gotten back to the point where they trust, whether it's the ACA or vaccines, as much as they trust their priest or their rabbi? No,” Becerra said. “But then again, I don't think priests…have the same status as they did before either.”
Becerra defended the Biden administration for its pandemic response against its critics online. (AP photo)
“I don't know what more we can do,” he added. “I'm more than willing to listen if someone has some great ideas.”
While Becerra criticized online misinformation, social media companies began attacking President Biden in the weeks before he left office.
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In a nearly 3-hour interview with Joe Rogan on Friday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke about the Biden administration. Pressure on his company during the pandemic To censor people who criticize the vaccine and other policies related to the pandemic.
“During the Biden administration, when they were trying to roll out the vaccine program,” Zuckerberg said. “While they were trying to push this program, they also tried to censor anyone who basically opposed it. They pushed us hard to remove things that were frankly true. They pressured us and said, you know, that 'Anything that says vaccines might have side effects,' “You should basically delete it.' And I said to myself, 'We're not going to do that,' and obviously we're not going to do that. I mean, that's indisputably true.”
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, revealed the tension between his company and the Biden administration during the pandemic. (Istock)
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He added: “I mean basically these people from the Biden administration will call our team and yell at them and curse them, and it's as if these documents are there.”
Zuckerberg also announced on Tuesday that he would be dead as well Lift some restrictions on fact checking To promote “freedom of expression.”
