Vice President JD Vance has publicly endorsed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' (MAHA) movement, describing it as 'a critical part of our success in Washington.' Speaking at a MAHA summit in Washington, D.C., Vance praised Kennedy for challenging conventional scientific wisdom and welcoming unconventional voices in healthcare.
During a fireside chat with Kennedy, Vance asserted that 'all the experts were wrong' throughout history and commended Kennedy's team for asking questions that 'people in government haven't been asking in a long time.' The event was livestreamed but otherwise closed to the press.
The White House has largely allowed Kennedy to make sweeping changes at the Department of Health and Human Services, including laying off thousands of workers, firing science advisers, and remaking vaccine guidelines. The Trump administration has touted Kennedy's efforts to phase out artificial dyes, combat ultra-processed foods, and update dietary guidelines.
Critics, including leading medical associations, argue that Kennedy's disregard for established science fosters public distrust in mainstream medicine. Vance acknowledged that many in Kennedy's network come from business rather than medical backgrounds, stating, 'We've got to be comfortable challenging some of these old orthodoxies.'
The summit followed a separate conference in Austin, Texas, hosted by the Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group formerly led by Kennedy. That event featured sessions on COVID-19 mRNA technology and vaccine injury. MAHA Action, the organising group, said Trump's embrace of the movement marks 'a decisive turning point in U.S. health policy.'
