5 months ago
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(NewsNation) — Since Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was sworn successful arsenic the 26th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services successful February, the section has gone done a large overhaul arsenic the erstwhile statesmanlike campaigner attempts to laic retired the Trump administration's wellness agenda.
The Democrat-turned-independent statesmanlike candidate-turned-Trump state was considered a controversial prime to pb the wellness agency.
Kennedy has been a longtime anti-vaccine advocate and proponent of the wellness state movement.
After Kennedy was sworn in, President Donald Trump established the Make America Healthy Again Commission in February 2025 committed to Kennedy’s origin of addressing a “growing wellness situation successful America” with a absorption connected nutrition, chronic illness, cause information issues, intelligence health, and more.
What is the 'Make America Healthy Again' (MAHA) movement?
Kristin Davis, a erstwhile publicist for Kennedy’s statesmanlike run Common Sense PAC, told NewsNation MAHA is “more than a slogan. It’s a nationwide question committed to restoring the wellness and well-being of the American radical by addressing the basal causes of our nation’s wellness crisis.”
She noted that the conception of MAHA pre-dates the governmental scion.
“While the sanction MAHA was coined and trademarked a fewer years agone by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the wellness state question and what it represents has been evolving for implicit a decade. The wellness state question is simply a grassroots conjugation of doctors, activists, and informed citizens warring for transparency, informed consent, and the close to marque idiosyncratic wellness decisions escaped from firm and authorities coercion," Davis said.
Davis added the wellness state movement, “challenges a strategy wherever profits often travel earlier radical and demands accountability for the rising chronic unwellness epidemic,” said Davis. “RFK Jr. helped springiness it a ceremonial identity, but the question itself predates the brand. (MAHA’s) cardinal initiatives see revising the puerility vaccine schedule, eliminating harmful additives and toxins from our nutrient supply, and advocating for transparency, informed consent, and existent accountability successful some medicine and government.”
What are the cardinal initiatives of 'Make America Healthy Again'?
The MAHA PAC website explained they advocator for addressing the root of chronic unwellness similar nutrition, and biology toxins, and volition absorption connected preventative healthcare and amended prime food.
“We person 1 of the sickest generations of young radical of immoderate developed countries,” Dr. Phil McGraw said connected NewsNation’s “CUOMO.” “We’re 33 retired of 38 among developed countries close present successful presumption of the beingness of chronic illness successful young people.”
Some of Kennedy's objectives see stopping the usage of fluoride successful drinking water, banning artificial food dye, and this period helium made a bold announcement that helium would find the cause of autism by September.
When asked for remark the HHS referred NewsNation to Trump's executive bid creating the MAHA Commission.
RFK Jr.'s restructuring of the HHS
Since helium became wellness secretary, galore authorities wellness programs and employees person been eliminated.
According to a March 2025 HHS information sheet, the bureau successful accordance with Trump’s "Department of Government Efficiency" Workforce Optimization Initiative chopped astir 20,000 full-time employees and downsized from 28 to 15 divisions including the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA).
Kennedy promised helium would overhaul the wellness strategy successful the United States with a projected $11 cardinal successful cuts from authorities and section wellness departments.
“We aren't conscionable reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the enactment with its halfway ngo and our caller priorities successful reversing the chronic illness epidemic,” Kennedy said successful the release. “This Department volition bash much – a batch much – astatine a little outgo to the taxpayer.”
In his archetypal web interrogation since being sworn in, CBS News main aesculapian analogous Dr. Jon LaPook, questioned Kennedy connected the cuts. Kennedy replied, “No I’m not acquainted with those cuts. We’d person to spell … the cuts were chiefly DEI cuts, which the president ordered,” and added helium was besides unaware that HHS chopped $750,000 successful assistance probe astatine the University of Michigan for teen diabetes.
How is RFK Jr.'s HHS enactment being received?
With regards to HHS’ cost-cutting measures, Mark A. Peterson, Professor of Public Policy and Senior Fellow astatine the Center for Health Policy Research astatine UCLA told NewsNation that cuts could impact probe that has been "influential successful improving the lifespan and prime of beingness of Americans."
“... terminating grants midstream, wholly redefining the predicates of the probe infrastructure without immoderate modulation and accidental for universities and different institutions to program and set and summarily firing highly trained and experienced national employees without a attraction astir either their contributions oregon their idiosyncratic circumstances is unprecedented and wholly counterproductive," Peterson said.
U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), an interior medicine doc and subordinate of the Congressional Doctors Caucus, has been vocal with his reservations astir RFK Jr.’s aesculapian perspectives and mass layoffs astatine the HHS, FDA, and CDC.
Bera told NewsNation connected Thursday that the Secretary of HHS claiming to not cognize the specifics of the cuts was “disappointing due to the fact that a batch of these programs we stood up post-pandemic to bash amended surveillance, wastewater surveillance, different things to beryllium an aboriginal informing awesome should determination beryllium a caller caller microorganism popping up oregon adjacent from a biosecurity position if someone’s introducing a biologic cause oregon thing similar that I deliberation that’s weakening our nationalist wellness system."
"It’s weakening our section nationalist wellness systems astatine a clip wherever people occurring pathogens, but besides perchance man-made pathogens could beryllium much prevalent," helium besides said.
Davis, Kennedy’s erstwhile Common Sense PAC publicist, defended Kennedy’s swiping changes.
“People person bought into the thought of alteration without afloat grasping what existent betterment demands," she said.
“We didn’t scope this level of nationalist unhealthiness and authorities corruption overnight and undoing it requires bold, sometimes uncomfortable measures that critics often defy retired of vested involvement and elemental naivety,” Davis besides said.
