The politicization of COVID-19 by right-wing conservatives is deeply concerning because it has sown seeds of distrust that will make future pandemic responses significantly harder, whether it’s H5N1 (aka Bird Flu) or another threat.
By framing science-based global pandemic responses as a “liberal conspiracy,” they undermined trust not only in government efforts but also in frontline experts trained to handle such crises. This erosion of trust has already had broader implications in other emergencies and will likely make the next pandemic response worse.
Some of this backlash stems from the success of the measures taken during COVID-19. Politicians faced a no-win situation: if they did nothing and the pandemic worsened, they’d be blamed for inaction; if they acted decisively and it worked, people would question the necessity of the measures. That’s what happened—lockdowns, social distancing, and vaccines were highly effective in reducing the death toll, but their success led some to believe the threat was overstated.
This selective memory erases the severity of the pandemic—like the refrigerated trucks in New York, devastated regions in Europe, and uncounted deaths globally. Many only saw, “Those around me didn’t get sick” and concluded that interventions were unnecessary. Politicians capitalized on this sentiment, labeling effective measures as government overreach.
As a result, a significant portion of the political spectrum now starts from a position of mistrust, viewing any public health action as an infringement on personal freedom. This mindset ensures that resistance to necessary measures will increase in the next pandemic, jeopardizing everyone’s safety.