News broke this week of two big developments involving government expertise: A second coronavirus vaccine’s safety data show a more than 94% efficacy rate, which the federal government will soon either approve or disapprove for use, and the Federal Aviation Administration ungrounded the country’s fleet of Boeing 737-8 and 737-9 Max airplanes.
The year has been a challenging one for expertise broadly and for public trust in it. In the coronavirus, health officials and scientists were forced to tackle a novel pathogen, to learn concurrently about the virus, and to offer public health guidance as they went.
They got some things wrong. Public health posturing has been used to justify morally unjustifiable policies. Beyond that, officials have had to counter the mischief at the intersection of vaccine development and electoral politics. All of it led to an expert-wary public.
That being said, an expert-wary public ought to take note that experts and regulators are putting their money where their mouth is. Or, more pointedly, putting their families where the fruit of their labor is.
On Tuesday, Anthony Fauci spoke confidently about coronavirus vaccines, saying on CNN that once the data has been fully reviewed and vaccines approved, “I will take a vaccine, and I will recommend to my family to also take it.”
Similarly, at a September hearing before the Senate’s health committee, Surgeon General Jerome Adams testified to the legitimacy of coronavirus vaccine development efforts: “As a member of the coronavirus task force, there has been no politicization of the vaccine process whatsoever. We have a process in place that I trust as a doctor, as a dad.”
Adams continued, “I get vaccinated every year. I get my family vaccinated every year.” Furthermore, he was just about to say something to the tune of “we will be in line when a coronavirus vaccine comes out” when he was cut off by the senator questioning him. Even without the full latter line, Adams demonstrated his trust in expertise.
FAA Administrator Steve Dickson just put his own family on the line this week. On Wednesday, Dickson rescinded the order of prohibition that grounded Boeing’s 737-8 and 737-9 Max jets back in March 2019. Two horrific crashes of the 737-8, killing 346, caused the FAA and other regulators around the world to ground the airplanes, leading to subsequent congressional investigations into FAA aircraft certification.
The FAA is now signing off on the Max’s airworthiness, concluding that Boeing remedied the issues determined to have contributed to the crashes. Airlines that have the jets in their fleets are poised to reintroduce them to service once they make required design and pilot training changes. Naturally, skepticism remains.
“It’s not a safe plane,” Michael Stumo, whose daughter died in the Ethiopian Airlines Max crash, told CNBC in a recent interview. Others on social media declare that they won’t step on the airplane.
Dickson responded to standing safety concerns by saying, “I can tell you that I am 100% confident in the actions that we have taken, the design changes that have been put in place with the 737 Max, and I would put my own family on it.”
In 2020, having credentials isn’t enough if you are an official tasked with inspiring public confidence. You need to say a word about your family.
