I don't think it will turn on a dime. Take the safety example you reference. HCQ was approved for use in the US in 1955, has been dosed tens of millions of times, and has a well established and accepted track record for safety. Despite this, there was a lot of scaremongering that happened starting in March. I'm aware of one open study for HCQ prophylaxis that had willing subjects dry up right as a lot of political distortion and misinformation got fanned. The damage in safety perception will be hard overcome despite it being safe for over half a century of use in the US. I think it's unfortunate, putting it mildly.
HCQ use has been associated with decreased adverse cardiovascular and thrombotic events in RA/SLE patients, and has not been associated with negative cardiac events despite some QT prolongation in patients with active covid infection.
Safety of HCQ is one example. It's the lack of a coherent national approach, lack of truthfulness and transparency from the top, and manipulation of decision making driven by political calculus that will continue to subvert public trust and effective deployment of a national approach regardless of what the science says.