Americans express greater confidence in federal career scientists and independent medical groups than in the political leaders running U.S. health agencies, and they are more likely to accept vaccine recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics than from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a University of Pennsylvania survey.
The new findings come after the Trump administration in January took the unprecedented step of overhauling the CDC’s routine childhood immunization schedule, bypassing the government’s traditional advisory process and advancing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s long-standing effort to reshape pediatric vaccine policy.
The survey published Thursday also found that trust in major U.S. heath agencies including the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health has shrunk, with roughly three-quarters of people saying they trusted those agencies in 2024, compared to roughly 6 in 10 in 2026.
The survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center was conducted Feb. 3 through 17 among a nationally representative sample of 1,650 adults. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
Federal health agencies under Kennedy have seen rapid-fire leadership changes, major staff and funding cuts and the shifting — or bypassing — of scientific processes that once anchored decision-making at the CDC, FDA and NIH, public health and medical experts have said.
The administration has also pushed messages that have concerned public health leaders and medical experts, such as warning women against taking Tylenol by associating it with autism without a proven link or launching studies on vaccines and autism despite dozens of studies showing no link.
Since Kennedy has taken over leading U.S. public health policy, medical and public health experts have created shadow structures to provide alternative public health guidance. Groups involved in creating those organizations independent from the federal government include the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Thousands of career scientists have left the agencies through layoffs and voluntary departures, according to data released from the federal government’s human resources arm, exits that have affected core functions from disease surveillance to regulation and research.
Kennedy has repeatedly said that the federal public-health system lost credibility during the covid-19 pandemic and that radical changes are needed to restore trust in health guidance and leadership.
The turmoil has played out most dramatically at the CDC. Susan Monarez served as director for 28 days before she was fired in August. She said she left for refusing to be a “rubber-stamp” for changes Kennedy wanted on vaccination policy. A top deputy to Kennedy was tapped to be acting CDC director, but was moved out of both positions three weeks ago. A few days later, the director of the National Institutes of Health, an outspoken critic of the CDC’s response to the covid-19 pandemic, was named acting director.
Americans’ confidence in their own doctor, nurse or other primary health care provider in providing trustworthy information about public health remains the highest of all, (86 percent) more than any other group, including U.S. agencies, their career scientists and the major professional health organizations.
The survey reveals a substantial difference between how Americans view career scientists at the federal health agencies versus the leaders of those agencies, all of which are overseen by Kennedy, the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group.
Two-thirds of respondents (67 percent) express confidence in career scientists at the CDC, NIH and FDA, with 33 percent saying they were not confident. By contrast, confidence in the leaders of those same agencies was much lower – 43 percent of Americans are confident in the agency leaders, compared with 57 percent who say they are not confident in them, the survey found.
“The public is differentiating the trustworthiness of career scientists in the CDC, NIH and FDA from that of the leaders of those agencies,” Ken Winneg, managing director of survey research, said in a press release.
At the same time, Americans say they have greater confidence in major professional health associations to provide more trustworthy public health information than the federal health agencies.
Eight in 10 (82 percent) U.S. adults say they are confident in the American Heart Association, 77 percent are confident in the American Academy of Pediatrics, and 73 percent are confident in the American Medical Association to provide trustworthy information related to public health.
By comparison, fewer people say they are confident in the CDC (60 percent), NIH (62 percent), and the FDA (62 percent) to provide this information, the survey found. The confidence in the agencies is lower than confidence in career scientists at those agencies.
The CDC this year cut the number of vaccines it would recommend for every child, no longer recommending they be immunized for rotavirus, influenza, meningococcal disease and hepatitis A, among others.
Last year, the CDC dropped the long-standing recommendationto give all newborns a hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth. The decision sparked a national debate over infant vaccination and drew swift resistance from pediatricians, state health departments and major medical groups. The AAP has maintained that recommendation as part of its childhood vaccination schedule.
When asked which recommendation they would accept if there were a disagreement between the AAP and the CDC on whether newborns should be given a hepatitis B vaccine, Americans are nearly four times more likely to accept the recommendation of the AAP (42 percent) than the CDC (11 percent). About a third of those surveyed (32 percent) say they are unsure, and 16 percent would take neither.
Scott Clement contributed to this report.
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