Government uncertainty amplifies hesitancy

When public‑health authorities publicly signal unresolved doubt (even if scientifically cautious), those uncertainty signals can materially increase perceived vaccine risk and reduce uptake, as shown by an experimental survey of 2,900 U.S. adults and contemporaneous policy changes at the CDC and HHS. Such top‑down communications can accumulate with policy changes (e.g., advisory‑committee appointments, altered schedules) to produce sustained declines in vaccination. — This frames a new policy risk: that institutional expressions of uncertainty can unintentionally act like misinformation and undermine population health, shifting how regulators should weigh transparency versus practical uptake effects.