The Adverse Effects of Lying during a Pandemic

Too often, public-health experts assume that the public wants a projection of perfect confidence.

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reported recently that 28 percent of adults express hesitancy about the vaccine for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella. That number represents a significant surge. Among parents of school-aged children, suddenly, the number believing that the MMR vaccine should be a requirement for enrollment in school dropped twelve percentage points. Forty-four percent of Republican-leaning independents, up from 22 percent a few years ago, said that the decision for a child to receive an MMR vaccine should...