The White House is searching for a magic needle to thread the inevitable conflict between MAHA priorities and broader public health concerns now that RFK Jr. has run roughshod over people’s ability to get the Covid-19 vaccine this fall. Though Trump’s HHS Director and his acolytes falsely insist that “anyone who wants a booster can get it,” prescriptions are required in many places before pharmacies will provide the shot. Healthy adults are being denied by insurance companies even if they reside in a household with vulnerable seniors or people with compromised immune systems; previous federal guidance that pregnant women should get a booster has been withdrawn.
But assuming MAGA’s resistance to the Covid-19 vaccine signals opposition to all vaccines is a mistake. Even among Republicans, polling show strong support for vaccines that have been around for decades—and have saved millions of lives. Trump distanced himself from the stance of Florida’s surgeon general Joseph Ladapo, who recently announced he was making some childhood vaccines, including those for chicken pox and Hepatitis-B optional, by saying people should take vaccines that are “non-controversial,” adding that some vaccines are “amazing.”
Even in Florida, a closer look reveals that state law still requires the MMR vaccine for children; the presumption is still that lawmakers are not crazy enough to change it. (That’s not intended as a challenge.) The Republican majority in the state’s legislature has so far said nothing, while Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman called Ladapo’s announcement “ridiculous” and said she would “be doing everything in my power to protect our kids from these reckless attempts to harm them.”
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Still, the extent of the quackery begs the question: Why are we as a society courting danger by walking away from proven advances in health?
Because there will be public health consequences. Infectious diseases don’t respect boundaries. We don’t know just how pervasive these consequences will be, but any life lost to a preventable disease is a tragedy for the individual and the family. When a measles outbreak in West Texas occurred earlier this year hospitalizing 100 children—and killing two, Kennedy suggested unproven and untested remedies including Vitamin A and cod liver oil. Some children subsequently had to be treated for Vitamin A overdoses.
“We don’t have to be talking of mass casualties,” said Bill Galston, a senior scholar in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. “The sowing of doubt when doubt is unwarranted is a public danger.”
Maybe that’s the point.
Kennedy in June fired all 17 members of an advisory panel on vaccines, claiming they had conflicts of interest—and appointed replacements, including known vaccine skeptics, one of whom was then fired too for misrepresenting his credentials.
“Kennedy has mobilized fear—particularly fear of the unknown—to create a space where negative claims about vaccines appear credible,” added Galston, who is also the author of an aptly-titled new book, Anger, Fear, Domination: Dark Passions and the Power of Political Speech.
“The overall strategy is to reduce access to vaccines. Confusing people is part of that strategy,” said Jill Rosenthal, director of public health policy at liberal think tank The Center for American Progress, of RFK’s agenda. “People don’t know what they should do. They don’t really understand the guidance. And there are huge costs for failure.”
Trump hasn’t yet wavered in his support for his Health Secretary, despite the many calls for his removal, including from members of the Kennedy family, a thousand former and current HHS employees, and countless professional medical and scientific organizations, who RFK Jr dismisses as shills for the pharmaceutical industry.
But we all know how Trump reacts when someone close to him is getting bad publicity that might reflect on him. He can be brutal in cutting the cord. Think Elon Musk.
It’s been reported that Laura Loomer has warned Trump that RFK Jr is planning to run for president again in 2028, but as what? A Republican against JD Vance? An independent?! (Last month, RFK said he’s not running for president, but still.)
Whatever path he chooses, or is chosen for him, Kennedy has left his mark on public health, and it’s one that won’t easily be undone. Beyond vaccines, he’s canceled research grants and fired scientists who don’t agree with him. He’s also made big promises about reducing the use of pesticides in growing food, getting ultra processed foods out of our schools and improving the state of American children’s health without plausible plans to make any of that happen.
On Tuesday, Trump signed an Executive Order directing HHS and the FDA to rein in prescription drug advertising that doesn’t fully inform the public about side effects. This is popular with consumers and is surely an attempt by Trump to change his health secretary’s focus away from controversial vaccines to something we can all agree upon. Trump would rather Kennedy busy himself with zinging Big Pharma than worrying parents about their children getting measles.
What Trump will discover, though, is there is no magic needle when children are dying from diseases that are preventable, or when people are afraid to visit grandma in Boca Raton (or Disneyworld!) because the Sunshine State has become a veritable Petri dish. There’s not enough cod liver oil to go around, and no treatment to allay the pain this scion of one of America’s most renown political families is needlessly causing his fellow citizens.
