As stated in my quoted post, some of the distrust is deserved, some not. For example, there are snide comments in the Crown Heights thread about doctors who gave of their lives in the most superlative ways for nothing in return. Those revolt me personally. Then you had doctors who kicked and screamed about every violation of social distancing or large events only to encourage and participate in BLM protests.
Here are some facts:
The average frum NYer knows many people who died from covid. They also know an equal or larger amount of people who were mistreated in NY hospitals, were malnourished, and suffered the worst of conditions.
Our own nonprofit organizations were ahead of NY public health at basically every stage of the virus. When people were getting put on ventilators and killed, Hatzalah, Chemed, Yachad, and other organizations were facilitating home treatments that kept people out of the hospital and alive. My bosses procured and donated hundreds of oxygen concentrators which saved lives. Our communities have been using monoclonal antibodies to great effect, B"H, something the broader medical world has been slower to adapt.
The debates have become very political, the media coverage has been skewed, and Jewish communities were targeted with covid restrictions and enforcement more than other communities.
With the internet and social media, there has never been a better time for the promulgation of conspiracy theories. When you sprinkle in the above truths which people know from their lived experiences, those conspiracy theories become very believable.
Unfortunately, some of the more vocal medical professionals have mocked and ridiculed people who didn't go along with their beliefs. People who expressed questions about vaccines have not been treated with the respect that you have shown when answering questions. When doctors have been shown to have gotten things wrong, which is perfectly understandable in such a fast-changing situation, they have not shown contrition in the slightest.
There has also been an unwillingness of the people creating the guidelines and restrictions to acknowledge their difficulties. NYers crammed into tiny apartments for weeks on end had outdoor toddler playgrounds locked! (Outside of Jewish areas, basketball courts were open and full, but that's part of the other point)
We were told 14 days to stop the curve with fancy graphics and everything, and the 14 days kept stretching and stretching. No parameters are set for when restrictions are put in place or stopped. People are expected to live under any restrictions without any kind of indication when or how those restrictions can or will be lifted. All this in the name of "science" when they are often not scientific at all. The same officials screaming at people to get vaxxed were screaming at them for not wearing a mask alone outdoors in the summer.
Many doctors use the CDC when informing patients, they link to their site and quote their statements about vaccines and the like. If someone has lost trust in the CDC - for whatever reason, legitimate or not - they now lost trust in this doctor who "is just a puppet". Now, you can say it's not the doctor's fault that the patient is a crazy conspiracy theorist, but read the room. When large swaths of your patients have lost trust and conflate all public health agencies with Cuomo's anti-Semitic policies, don't quote the CDC.
There is much more to be written about this, but if you are really bored, you can go through my post history from about Shavuos last year and I mentioned a few times that public health officials were losing trust and it would cause long term damage. Hate to say it, but covid anti vaxism is spreading to other vaccinations as well in our community. Hypocrisy and double standards from the agencies advocating the vaccines will do that.