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Boston Globe
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Who runs ‘MAHA'? Inside Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s inner circle as health secretary.
At the core of the so-called 'Make America Healthy Again' movement is scrutiny of ingredients in food, agricultural production, and vaccines, as well as a rejection of decades of scientific consensus, sometimes favoring fringe and debunked theories. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Here are the key people in Kennedy's orbit leading the charge. Advertisement The inner circle Kennedy's two closest advisers from the MAHA world are Calley Means and Stefanie Spear . Spear, the press secretary for his 2024 presidential campaign, is his deputy chief of staff and senior counselor. She's a longtime environmental activist who joined forces with Kennedy in 2011 to turn her environmental news and activism venture EcoWatch into an online operation. In 2020, she joined Kennedy's antivaccine group, Children's Health Defense, to run its news and activism arm. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., founder of Waterkeeper Alliance, walked through the Cleveland Rowing Federation boathouse with EcoWatch founder Stefanie Spear before speaking at an event in Cleveland in 2011. AP Photo/Mark Duncan/Associated Press At Health and Human Services, Spear remains his top communications adviser, managing his public appearances. She has, at times, drawn consternation from others in the administration for Advertisement Calley Means is a more recent arrival to Kennedy's orbit, having started working with him roughly a year ago, Means said in an interview last month. In that short time, he has become hugely influential. Means told the Globe he helped connect Kennedy with Trump when Kennedy's independent presidential campaign sputtered. Means is a health and wellness influencer and entrepreneur who runs a company that allows people to get letters of medical necessity to use their pre-tax health savings accounts to buy fitness and nutrition products from his company's partners. He is also the brother of surgeon general nominee Casey Means. He is a vociferous critic of sugar and processed foods, as well as the food industry, and has been a Means is serving the administration as a special government employee, an arrangement that allows him to bypass some ethics requirements for administration officials and maintain his ties to his business ventures. He is one of the most visible members of MAHA, appearing regularly in the press and at events organized by outside groups supportive of Kennedy. Means and his sister, however, have The outside influencers MAHA has its roots in social media and podcasts, where a coterie of health and wellness influencers have reached Americans with a broad cross-section of political views. Some are former Democrats, and many lean on their experience as parents to land their message. Advertisement The Free Press' Honestly with Bari Weiss hosts Jillian Michaels, Vani Hari, and Calley Means on January 19 in Washington, X and The Free Press host Inauguration Eve Vani Hari , known online as 'the Food Babe,' has earned millions of social media followers after Jessica Reed Kraus is a self-described 'mommy blogger' with a strong online social following. She built her media presence largely by purveying in celebrity gossip and conspiracy theories, but during COVID, she publicly opposed health mandates and later gained special access to cover the Kennedy campaign and Trump world, according Alex Clark is an online influencer The deputies The government's key health positions have been staffed with Kennedy allies or fellow ideological travelers. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., center, is flanked by, from left, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Markary; Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health; President Trump; and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as he spoke in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, May 12, in Washington. Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya joined Kennedy in the world of COVID contrarianism, authoring a declaration from a group of scientists challenging mainstream public health views during the pandemic. Formerly a Stanford professor and physician-economist, Bhattacharya is overseeing efforts to overhaul how government scientific research funding is distributed, halting billions to traditional research with stated goals of investing in understanding the causes of disease rather than treatment. Advertisement Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin A. Makary is one of the longer-standing supporters of MAHA, having testified in Congress last year at a roundtable on the topic. Formerly a liver and pancreatic surgeon and researcher at Johns Hopkins University, Makary is an author who has criticized traditional medicine's dogmas and was also a COVID-era contrarian. Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer, left, and journalist Megyn Kelly attended a confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the Secretary of Health and Human Services post at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 29. Ben Curtis/Associated Press Casey Means , the sister of Calley Means, has been nominated to serve as surgeon general. She is a wellness author, influencer, and entrepreneur who has advocated a The outside support Some of Kennedy's staff and allies from his presidential campaign have transitioned to boosting his administration's agenda. Del Bigtree, founder of the Informed Consent Action Network, during an antivaccine rally outside the New York State Capitol in Albany in 2019. DESIREE RIOS/NYT Del Bigtree , a longtime antivaccine activist and filmmaker who served as communications director for Kennedy's campaign, took over as CEO for one of the outside big money groups that backed Kennedy's presidential bid, rebranded as MAHA Action. Bigtree was a constant presence at Kennedy's confirmation hearings, and the group coordinated press coverage of Kennedy's appearances as it produced glossy MAHA promotional content. Before his confirmation, Kennedy transferred ownership of the MAHA trademark to Bigtree. Bigtree, however, recently left the group, Advertisement Separately, publisher Tony Lyons and tech and finance millionaire Mark Gorton recently launched the MAHA Institute, a rebranded version of the dark money group they co-led alongside a political action committee that financially backed Kennedy's presidential bid. Lyons runs Skyhorse Publishing, a The launch of the MAHA Institute earlier this month The Hill ally Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., questioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's choice to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, as he testified before the Senate Finance Committee during his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 29. Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press Kennedy has picked up a number of supporters on Capitol Hill who have taken up his MAHA brand or who share his skepticism of vaccines, but Senator Ron Johnson , Republican of Wisconsin, is arguably his most stalwart ally on the Hill. Last September, not long after Kennedy endorsed Trump and debuted his MAHA message riffing off of Trump's 'Make America Great Again' slogan, Johnson Tal Kopan can be reached at
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr misleads on chickenpox vaccine use in Europe
Kennedy's claim came during a May 14, 2025 hearing of the House Appropriations Committee, when Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan asked if he would vaccinate his own children against chickenpox. The secretary did not answer directly, saying: "I don't want to give advice. I can tell you, in Europe, they don't use the chickenpox vaccine, specifically because the pre-clinical trial shows that when you inoculate the population for chickenpox, you get shingles in older people, which is more dangerous" (archived here). Kennedy expressed repeated skepticism over vaccines throughout his more than ten-year career as chairman Children's Health Defense, an organization AFP has regularly fact-checked for spreading misinformation about vaccination. Since taking over at HHS, he has continued to send mixed messages about vaccines that boast long safety records. His response to a measles outbreak in Texas that left two children dead, for example, has been criticized for underemphasizing the efficacy of vaccines that protect against the virus. His agency is also seeking to introduce new testing requirements for all vaccines, which experts worry could make updates for existing shots less available and more expensive. AFP's review of vaccine recommendations across Europe show his comments about chickenpox and shingles are inaccurate. A 2022 study found that 28 European countries administer the shots, with 16 using the MMRV, a vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (archived here and here). According to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency of the European Union, the chickenpox vaccine is mandatory as of May 2025 for young children in Hungary, Italy and Latvia (archived here). Varicella, commonly referred to as chickenpox, and herpes zoster, also called shingles, are both caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says anyone infected with varicella can develop herpes zoster. While children generally recover from chickenpox in four to seven days, the disease can lead to serious complications, and it is more dangerous for adults. Pregnant individuals are particularly vulnerable, as the virus can harm the fetus (archived here and here). The United States began vaccinating against chickenpox in 1995, making it the first country to add the shot to its routine childhood immunization schedule (archived here). As of 2025, there are two chickenpox vaccines licensed in the United States (archived here). The vaccine's implementation dramatically cut hospitalizations and deaths linked to chickenpox infections, José Romero, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told AFP (archived here). "We have a vaccine that is effective, that is safe, that's been tested for over a decade -- over two decades -- and that has really done away with the number of hospitalizations, cases and deaths due to chickenpox," he said May 20, 2025. The CDC estimates that in its first 25 years, the vaccination program prevented 91 million cases of chickenpox while also saving $23.4 billion in healthcare costs (archived here). The agency also says children who get the chickenpox vaccine "have a lower risk of herpes zoster when compared with children infected with wild-type VZV" (archived here). Like chickenpox, shingles causes a painful, itchy rash, but it tends to take two to four weeks to heal. For some 10 to 18 percent of people, the infection results in a more serious long-term nerve pain known as postherpetic neuralgia (archived here). An estimated one million cases of shingles occur annually in the United States. The CDC says the rate among US adults "gradually increased over a long period" for reasons unknown, but that it has "recently plateaued or declined" (archived here). Some evidence has suggested that for adults who had chickenpox in childhood, later exposure to children infected with VZV would boost immunity and prove protective against shingles. But a study from the United Kingdom showed the impact may not be as robust as initially thought (archived here and here). US researchers separately followed the impact of their country's vaccination program from 1998 to 2019. They found that modeling, which predicted the program could precipitate a rise in shingles cases among adults who had previously had chickenpox, was not supported by the real-world data (archived here). They also found that in addition to directly reducing chickenpox morbidity and mortality, the vaccination program "reduced herpes zoster incidence among children and adolescents born in the vaccine era." When the United Kingdom's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation decided to recommend adding the chickenpox vaccine to its schedule of shots for children in 2023, it specifically referenced the study from the United States as alleviating concerns for older populations who have recovered from a varicella infection (archived here). Ellen Rafferty, a researcher at the University of Alberta (archived here), also told the BBC in 2024 that her modeling study from Canada did not show "conclusive evidence" of a surge in shingles cases following the introduction of a chickenpox vaccine program (archived here and here). For adults concerned about shingles, the United States recommends that those over the age of 50 receive a vaccine (archived here). A single shot against the virus first became available in 2006, and in 2017, another vaccine that does not use a live virus earned approval (archived here). Read more of AFP's reporting on vaccine misinformation here.
Kiwiblog
07-05-2025
- Health
- Kiwiblog
General Debate 01 May 2025
The needle and the damage done… Hospitals in Athens, Greece, incorrectly attributed hundreds of deaths to COVID-19, according to a peer-reviewed study published Monday in Scientific Reports. A team of 19 Greek doctors and researchers studying 530 deaths that occurred in seven Athens hospitals between January and August 2022, found nearly half of the deaths attributed to COVID-19 were unrelated to the virus. Researchers determined the virus was directly responsible for only a quarter — 133, or 25.1% — of the deaths. In an additional 157 (29.6%) cases, COVID-19 'contributed to the chain of events leading to death' — for a total of 290 deaths 'from' COVID-19. Another 240 (45.3%) deaths occurred among people 'with' COVID-19, but the deaths could not be directly attributed to the virus. Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist for Children's Health Defense, highlighted another key outcome of the study not mentioned in the text, but found in an accompanying table. According to Jablonowski, among the 288 deaths of people whose vaccination status was known, and who died 'from' COVID-19, more than half — 53.8%, or 155 — were vaccinated, either fully or boosted. 'Of the vaccinated who died 'from' COVID-19, 65.8% (102 of 155) were boosted,' he said.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
At this rate, measles could become endemic again within 2 decades, researchers warn
A resurgence of measles cases in the U.S., including one in Texas that recently infected more than 620 people and killed at least two children, is connected to a continuing decline in childhood vaccination rates. And if they continue to drop, warns a new study, it could pave the way for a measles comeback—and for rubella and polio, too. But even if vaccine rates stay at current rates, measles could again become endemic (circulating in the U.S.) within two decades—and happen more quickly even with another small decline in immunization rates. Just a small increase, though, would prevent this. So say the researchers of the Stanford Medicine-led study, published on April 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 'We've seen a worrisome pattern of decreasing routine childhood vaccinations,' senior author Nathan Lo said in a news release. 'There was a disruption to health care services during the pandemic, but declines preceded this period and have accelerated since then for many reasons. People look around and say, 'We don't see these diseases. Why should we vaccinate against them?' There's a general fatigue with vaccines. And there's distrust and misinformation about vaccine effectiveness and safety.' A thought leader in that area has been Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., now Health and Human Services secretary, who founded the non-profit Children's Health Defense in order to examine the link between routine childhood vaccinations and chronic disease in this country. Last week, he publicly vowed to get to the bottom of which 'toxins' are causing autism, specifically, though he referred to one of the possible culprits as 'medicines' rather than vaccines. Researchers behind the new study—which also included scientists from Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, and Texas A&M University—embarked upon their investigation because they were curious about when the impacts of the decline in vaccinations would be felt. 'Specifically,' said Lo, 'we wanted to look at some key diseases that have been eliminated from the U.S. through vaccination, which means they're not spreading within the country on an ongoing basis. These include measles, polio, rubella and diphtheria, which can have awful complications, like lifelong paralysis, birth defects and death.' To do that, they used a large-scale epidemiological model to simulate all Americans, and then simulated how infections would spread under different vaccine conditions. Eventually, said Lo, 'you see sustained, ongoing transmission, meaning these diseases become endemic—they become household names once again.' With measles—one of the most infectious diseases that exist, and more infectious than the others looked at in this study—researchers found that the U.S. is 'already on the precipice of disaster,' said Lo. If vaccination rates remain the same, he explained, 'the model predicts that measles may become endemic within about 20 years. That means an estimated 851,300 cases over 25 years, leading to 170,200 hospitalizations and 2,550 deaths.' Measles is also more common globally, so travelers are most likely to bring it back, and the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine is one of the most controversial, 'partly due to a history of fraudulent medical research that raised safety concerns,' said Lo. And more and more Americans are hearing about such misinformation, a just-released KFF survey found. The other diseases, the researchers found, are not likely to become endemic under current vaccination rates. If vaccination rates were to fall even further, though, things would look more dire. Measles cases would skyrocket to 11.1 million over the next 25 years if vaccine rates fell even by 10%, said lead author Matthew Kiang. And if those rates were cut in half, he said, 'we'd expect 51.2 million cases of measles, 9.9 million cases of rubella, 4.3 million cases of polio and 200 cases of diphtheria over 25 years,' all of which would lead to 10.3 million hospitalizations, 159,200 deaths—and an estimated 51,200 children with post-measles neurological complications, 10,700 cases of birth defects due to rubella, and 5,400 people paralyzed from polio. 'Measles would become endemic in less than five years, and rubella would become endemic in less than 20,' warned Kiang. 'Under these conditions, polio became endemic in about half of simulations in around 20 years.' In such a scenario, researchers note, those most at risk would be unvaccinated individuals, including babies not yet eligible for a first MMR dose (which is given at 12 months), as well as people who are immunocompromised. Lo encouraged vaccine-hesitant parents to discuss the issue with their pediatrician 'and believe in our health-care providers.' And, added Kiang, 'It's worth emphasizing that there really shouldn't be any cases at this point, because these diseases are preventable. Anything above zero is tragic. When you're talking about potentially thousands or millions, that's unfathomable. More on measles: As measles spreads throughout the U.S., here's how to tell if you need a booster shot First U.S. measles death in over a decade: Unvaccinated child dies of virus in Texas outbreak that's infected more than 120 people RFK Jr. touts vitamin A and cod liver oil as another death is reported in growing measles outbreak. Health experts warn the move is 'misleading the public' This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Kerry Kennedy Sends Message to Viewers That Her Brother RFK Jr. Won't
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s sister, Kerry, contested her brother's skepticism of vaccines and begged viewers to go 'get every vaccine that's out there' in an interview with CNN Monday. Speaking on Erin Burnett's OutFront, Kerry addressed her brother's sweeping first press conference as health secretary last week where he described autism as an 'epidemic' that he believes is caused by an 'environmental toxin' he hopes to investigate. While a cause for autism is not fully understood, research has long suggested that genetics play a pivotal role. 'I love my brother, and I not only love him because all of us have to love our siblings, but I also like him,' Kerry said. 'But I do disagree with almost everything he says from a public policy perspective.' Prior to becoming health secretary, RFK Jr. founded and was the former chair of anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children's Health Defense. Though he seemed to step away from his formerly publicized stance by endorsing getting the measles vaccine amid a growing outbreak in West Texas, he still insisted in a March interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that 'people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves' when it comes to vaccines. His sister, however, turned to speak directly to the camera on Monday: 'Everybody go get the measles vaccine right now. If you haven't gotten it, go get it. Get the COVID vaccine. Get every vaccine that's out there. Go and get it, because that's the way you protect yourself. That's the way you protect your children. And that's the way, the only way, our country and the world will be protected from diseases.' Kerry, a human rights activist and lawyer, has distanced herself from her brother and his views for some time. In August 2024, she publicly endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz's campaign, and described her brother's decision to back Trump as a 'betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.' She later again warned against his involvement with the Trump administration in a November 2024 interview with CNN. Though the pair have drifted apart, Kerry was open to the idea of their Catholic faith bringing them back together following Pope Francis' death. 'I believe in faith, and I pray every day for union. And I hope that the next pope will be somebody who can bring Catholics together,' Kerry said during her Monday interview. 'You know, essentially this is all about love and finding ways of loving each other. And that love starts with recognition of the dignity of every human being.' 'Frankly, that's why I have spent my life promoting the universal declaration of human rights, because that document is the physical, legal manifestation of what love looks like in our country and around the globe,' she added.
