U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the WHO was responsible for « the Americans who died alone in nursing homes (and) the small businesses that were destroyed by reckless mandates » to wear masks and get vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to a study conducted in the first half of 2020, Donald Trump’s name was mentioned in 37.9% of articles that contained false information about COVID-19, and « Donald Trump was likely the largest driver of the COVID-19 misinformation.” (1) Some Republicans preferred to follow Trump’s misinformation rather than the WHO’s recommendations on protective measures and vaccination. For example, 51% of Republicans believed that hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment (vs 8% of Democrats) and 36% thought that wearing a mask was harmful to one’s health (vs 7% of the Democrats). (2)

The excess death rate due to COVID-19 up to December 2021 was 43% higher among Republican voters than among Democratic voters. (3)

References:

(1) S. Evanega, M. Lynas, J. Adams, and K. Smolenyak, Coronavirus misinformation: Quantifying sources and themes in the COVID-19 “infodemic”. 2020. Cornell Alliance for Science, Cornell University

(2) E. Hamel, A. Montero, M. Brodie; The Public and Health (Mis)information: What Polling Tells Us About Where We Have Been and Where We Might Be Going. J Health Polit Policy Law 1 December 2025; 50 (6): 1081–1103.

(3) J. Wallace, P. Goldsmith-Pinkham, J.L. Schwartz, Excess Death Rates for Republican and Democratic Registered Voters in Florida and Ohio During the COVID-19 Pandemic, JAMA Intern Med, 2023 Sep 1;183(9):916-923.