What is MAHA, and who is the man at the helm?
By: Ashley Bergeron
Staff-Writer
On Feb. 13, President Trump signed an executive order that established the Make America Healthy Again Commission. The chair of Make America Healthy Again Commission will be Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., newly confirmed Health and Human Services secretary.
The described purpose for this executive order is to address the rise of chronic illnesses in Americans. Six out of ten U.S. adults have one chronic illness, and four in ten have two or more. It is estimated that 30 million children (40.7%) have a chronic condition like allergies, asthma or autoimmune diseases.
The order states that this affects the U.S. economy and military, with 90% of the national $4.5 trillion healthcare budget spent on managing chronic disease and 77% of young adults not qualifying for military service without a waiver.
In order to combat the rise of chronic illness, the order includes a set of guidelines executive departments will follow: federally funded research studies should be transparent and have no conflicts of interest; research should prioritize gold-standard research on the causes of Americans are getting sicker; departments should work with farmers to ensure that food is the healthiest, affordable and most abundant; and should ensure availability of expanded treatment options and affordable health insurance coverage to provide benefits that support beneficial life changes and disease prevention.
Alongside Kennedy, the Make America Healthy Again Commission will also include the Secretary of Agriculture, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the commissioner of food and drugs and more.
The first task that the MAHA Commission will face is fighting childhood chronic disease. They will study the scope of childhood chronic disease crisis and potential causes (i.e. environmental factors), advise and assist the President with transparent and clear facts to inform Americans and provide recommendations on policy and strategy to address the alleged childhood chronic disease crisis.
Within 100 days, the commission is to provide the President a “Make our Children Healthy Again Assessment.” This will include identifying and describing common chronic diseases; assessing the threat that potential over-utilization of medications, certain food ingredients, and certain chemicals and other exposures; assessing the “prevalence and potential threat” of prescription of antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants and mood stabilizers; identify and report on best practices for preventing childhood illness; evaluate educational programs that teach about things like nutrition; evaluate federal programs and funding that focus on preventing and treating childhood illness; ensure transparency of data from current, unpublished and future studies; evaluate the effectiveness of current federal government childhood health data and metrics; and “restore the integrity of science.”
The findings from the assessment would be used to make the “Make our Children Healthy Again Strategy”. This would be done within 180 days from Feb. 13 and would address restructuring the federal government’s response to childhood chronic disease.
As chair, Kennedy may hold public hearings and similar events if needed.
Like all executive orders, the order stipulates that it will not affect the statutory authority of executive departments or the functions of the Office of Management and Budget, and that it will be consistent with applicable law and not create a benefit to any party against the United States.
It is not yet clear how the directions described in the executive order may or may not affect the availability of prescription drugs, the funding and publication of health research or the manufacture or distribution of food.
The MAHA Commission is a federal entity created by the executive order on Feb. 13. However, Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) is also the name of a Political Action Committee created by Kennedy’s staff and advisers during his 2024 presidential campaign.
MAHA Commission Chair Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was an environmental lawyer and is now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is an active anti-vaccine activist and chaired the Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group, in 2015. He has made various statements that were proven false, including that Lyme disease is a military weapon and that vaccines cause autism. In 2019, he traveled to Samoa to meet with a fellow anti-vaccine activist, after which he was criticized for allegedly increasing vaccine hesitancy within the population and contributing to 70 deaths.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy made false claims that Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates were trying to profit from the pandemic and that Gates would cut off money to those who don’t get vaccinated. He made comparisons of the pandemic to Hilter’s Germany, stating that at least in Hilter’s Germany, you had the freedom to go to the Alps if you wanted. He also stated that COVID-19 is ethnically charged, targeting white and Black people, while Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people are immune. He also spread theories that COVID-19 was an experiment on Black people.
Kennedy has also claimed that AZT, an early AIDS drug, is fatal, which is false. He has stated that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, suggesting that AIDS is caused by other factors like drug use and lifestyle stressors. While HIV can be contracted in multiple ways, having HIV is the only way to develop AIDS.
He has also suggested a link between environmental chemicals and homosexuality and gender dysphoria.
The controversy over Kennedy’s new positions is reflected in the close Senate vote on his confirmation to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, which passed 52-48.
To read the executive order, visit whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions.
To read more about the Make America Healthy Again Super PAC, visit maha.vote.
