The Free Press
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Earlier this week, on Honestly, Bari interviewed prominent advocates of the MAHA movement. MAHA, or “Make America Healthy Again,” as we put it, is “an unexpected coalition of nutritionists, longevity experts, wellness influencers, holistic and functional doctors of medicine, moms wearing babies and natural deodorant, mushroom shamans, and some vaccine skeptics.” The conversation included Calley Means, Vani Hari, and Jillian Michaels.
After it aired, we heard from several listeners who took issue with some—and in some cases, a lot—of what the proponents of the New Age health regime said. Aren’t vaccines a miracle? Should we ever rely on science that hasn’t been peer-reviewed? Is fluoride really that bad?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the king of MAHA, and as his Senate hearings to become the next secretary of Health and Human Services continue, we think these questions are going to become only more critical.
And while most of our letter-writers aren’t quite as worked up about his nomination as his cousin Caroline Kennedy—she recently accused him, among many other things, of being “a predator”—the episode certainly elicited a strong reaction. Here are two of the letters we received from doctors with serious objections to the MAHA panel, particularly with regard to vaccines. —The Editors
I was frustrated by the conversation between your guests Calley Means, Jillian Michaels, and Vani Hari on the recent MAHA podcast. As the mother of four kids, I am deeply committed to the health of all children. And as a pediatrician, I commit to this mission daily using the foundations of medical evidence rigorously studied and tested over decades.
I will start by saying that I am open to hearing all opinions. One of the virtues of the MAHA movement will be to question the status quo: targeting improvements for which we have good data like in the case of Red Dye No. 3, and identifying opportunities for more research, like what effect seed oils are having on us. However, I find it counterproductive to entertain debate about topics for which the data exist and are virtually indisputable: in particular, the relationship between vaccines and autism. There is ample data refuting the relationship between autism and vaccination, including a 2020 Cochrane review with a sample size of 1.2 million children. It is not effective or compelling to invoke “science” as the underpinning of MAHA while also ignoring science.
As a physician, I fully accept the renewed responsibility to review the available medical evidence and ask more critical questions of practice standards. In response to heightened skepticism and an increase in inquiries from parents, I have refreshed my knowledge of the science behind many of my recommendations and am always open to new ways of thinking. While I share your guests’ desire to ensure that the intentions of “Big Pharma” are aligned with the well-being of patients, I resent their accusation that doctors are somehow complicit in pharma’s twisted incentives.
Children in this country are, undoubtedly, overmedicated. But until we find the solutions we need to provide healthy food, opportunities for exercise, accessible mental health care, affordable childcare, and safe schools, and to limit access to screens and social media, parents will continue to beg their pediatricians to prescribe the medicines that make these problems go away. For the panelist who is mad at her doctor because the doctor prescribed medicine instead of telling her to quit her job, it’s worth remembering that it is the job of the physician to make a medical recommendation based on medical evidence, clinical expertise, and individual patient needs. You don’t go to your electrician looking for marital advice.
I look forward to continuing this dialogue, but hope it can be accomplished with acknowledgment and respect for the things we know and an appropriate skepticism of the things we don’t. —Anna Goldenheim MD, MPH
I’ve been an orthopedic surgeon for three decades. I specialize in shoulders, knees, elbows, ankles—and living longer. In fact, I wrote a book about it.
The wholesale dismantling and beatdown of doctors, the pharmaceutical industry, and the whole medical establishment worries me. I’m not just talking about RFK Jr., but the broader antiestablishment movement that exploded in the wake of Covid. We're missing an important broader message here, and that’s that you won’t live longer by avoiding a dye in your cereal if you’re not also exercising, sleeping well, minimizing your alcohol intake, fostering relationships with friends, and waking up every morning with a sense of purpose.
It’s very hard to listen to a podcast where companies that have produced medications that have prolonged the lives of our family members are being called “criminal enterprises.” I’m not a pharma fan boy, but you cannot deny they’re saving lives.
There are going to be extreme costs to people and countries in response to this unchecked rhetoric and, in fact, I’m already seeing the effects of it in my office: patients who won’t sign consents for surgery because they’re worried about getting blood transfusions from vaccinated donors; patients with calcified arteries behind their knees who should be on a statin but refuse them.
I am not saying that some of the criticism leveled against health authorities is unjustified. The FDA and CDC handled Covid poorly. We do have problems with our food supply. We use too many pesticides. But do physicians overprescribe medications because they’re getting paid to by the pharmaceutical giants? Not in my experience.
We do a lot of good here in the United States. We save a lot of lives, and we make life better, happier, and healthier for a whole bunch of people. Critics note that we’re toward the bottom when it comes to longevity. That’s because we lose a lot of people in middle age, and those are mostly deaths of despair. If you make it to 60 or 70, we keep you alive longer than any country in the world.
There’s ample room for a more meaningful discussion about how we engineer movement back into our landscape and make better personal choices. But we don’t want to abandon pharmaceuticals. If you eliminate the vaccine schedule, you’re going to see an explosion in horrible diseases like cervical cancer, polio, measles, tetanus. We do not want to go back to a world without them. —Howard Luks, MD
An unexpected coalition of nutritionists, moms, shamans, longevity experts, and Bobby Kennedy have changed American culture and politics. This week on Honestly, Bari Weiss explores the rise of the MAHA movement with Calley Means, Jillian Michaels, and Vani Hari. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: