Since January, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has been traveling across the country as part of a “Take Back Your Health” Tour, but the Trump official has been speaking less about his controversial vaccine policies than at past moments, as Republicans fret that the administration’s vaccine moves could turn off voters ahead of the midterms.
Instead, at recent outings and speeches, Kennedy has touted more popular parts of the Make America Health Again (MAHA) agenda.
This week, he visited a famous Texas barbecue restaurant, part of his push to get Americans to eat less processed ingredients and more “real” food.
Earlier this month, during a stop in Tennessee, Kennedy spoke about efforts to boost rural health and incorporate AI into health programs.
“Vaccines are not popular issues to talk about,” an administration official told The Washington Post. “It goes back to polling.”
The White House dismissed that there was any official change in messaging, saying its agenda had “mass appeal.”
“The Trump administration will be aggressively showcasing our MAHA wins on the road to remind the American people of how we continue to break Washington, D.C.’s broken status quo to deliver meaningful change,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to the paper.
GOP allies have been warning for months about the political impact of the Trump administration’s moves around vaccines, which have included drastically shrinking the childhood vaccine schedule, cutting funding for vaccine research, and the president making baseless claims about vaccine safety.
“Policies related to vaccines and vaccine safety need to be addressed carefully and with nuance,” Todd Lyons, president of the RFK-aligned MAHA Action advocacy group, wrote in a February 11 memo. “That’s because, overall, a slim majority of voters are not convinced there are negative health impacts from vaccines.”
Back in December, meanwhile, Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio called eliminating certain vaccine recommendations “politically risky.”
Polling bears this out.
Among Americans who are aware of the Trump administration’s vaccine changes, respondents overwhelmingly told a recent KFF poll that the policies will harm children’s health.
“Six years ago, 85% of Americans, and 90% of Republicans, trusted the CDC. Now less than half trust the CDC on vaccines,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a statement accompanying the findings. “The wars over COVID, science, and vaccines have left the country without a trusted national voice on vaccines, and that trust will take time to restore.”
The administration has instead focused on touting other parts of its health agenda in high-profile settings.
A MAHA-aligned group put out a Super Bowl ad featuring Mike Tyson to promote Trump’s healthy eating campaign.
“It’s an extraordinarily powerful ad,” Kennedy told Fox News of the ad. “I think it’s the most important ad in Super Bowl history.”
Kennedy has made PSAs of his own, including a bizarre video of him working out shirtless with MAGA favorite Kid Rock and taking an ice plunge in jeans.
