The Metro: A year into the MAHA era, local health departments try to pick up the pieces

Public health decisions touch homes, classrooms, and workplaces across Michigan, but the system behind those decisions is under extraordinary strain.

The COVID-19 pandemic fractured trust in health institutions, and that trust remains fragile. Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, now leads the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

That agenda has included revisiting long-standing vaccine recommendations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently cut the childhood vaccine schedule from 17 diseases to 11, and it overhauled federal nutrition guidance. Some of those changes are welcomed by public health experts. Others have drawn fierce opposition, including from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which published its own immunization schedule and no longer endorses the CDC’s.

Some local health leaders say the biggest impact may be the broader doubt being cast on decades of science-based guidance. That uncertainty has placed more pressure on local health departments, which are now navigating a massive misinformation megaphone while fielding questions from confused residents.

Kate Guzmán, health officer for Oakland County’s Health Division, which serves more than 1.2 million residents, joined Robyn Vincent to discuss how her team is working to keep people healthy in the county.

This is the first installment in a monthly Metro series on public health in Michigan. Listen to the full conversation using the audio player above.