A high-profile Make America Healthy Again summit in Washington put Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s expanding coalition on full display, drawing biotech firms, AI startups and other corporate partners alongside federal health officials. Simultaneously, grassroots allies aired frustrations over vaccine policy and industry ties, with ousted HHS staff and activists warning MAHA is drifting from its origins. Kennedy defended top aides and urged unity while threading policy compromises, including support for a GLP‑1 pricing deal he called no “silver bullet.” Despite tensions, an Ipsos poll shows broad public support, and HHS touts transparency and measurable results. Next, observers will watch promised changes to vaccine injury compensation, how HHS manages corporate collaborations, and whether MAHA can hold its big tent together.
{‘current_text’: ‘On a recent Wednesday in Washington, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. strode onto the Waldorf Astoria stage to praise from the vice president and health technology CEOs. The glitzy “Make America Healthy Again” summit showcased a movement ascendant, with federal health officials sharing space with biotech firms, Neuralink, AI startups and other corporate players. The universal promise — to make America healthy again — looked like a unifying banner.\n\nAt the same time, a different story played out online. Gray Delany, a former HHS official ousted in August, declared, “MAHA is not MAHA anymore,” echoing core supporters who say the project has drifted from its origins. The criticism grew loud enough that Kennedy went on social media two days later to defend colleagues and plead for unity.\n\nThe rift is as much about methods as ends. HHS’s willingness to collaborate with pharmaceutical companies, tech firms and other big corporations has energized a broader coalition while unsettling activists who do not trust corporate motives. Leslie Manookian of the Health Freedom Defense Fund objected to the guest list, saying, “I don’t think that we make America healthy again through pills, creams, injections, pharmaceuticals, chips, monitors, devices.”\n\nKennedy and allies describe the expansion as strategic, not ideological drift. “MAHA’s growth is a sign of its success,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said, citing transparency, accountability and measurable results. The public has rewarded the push: roughly two-thirds of Americans supported the federal “Make America Healthy Again” initiative in a June Ipsos poll.\n\nBig‑tent energy comes with familiar stresses, said Matt Motta of Boston University’s School of Public Health: the bigger the tent, the harder it is to keep everyone happy. Movement identities, he added, often outlast any single policy fight.\n\nWithin that tent, vaccine policy remains the fault line. This year, Kennedy pulled $500 million for vaccine development, replaced every member of a federal vaccine advisory committee, and pledged to overhaul the vaccine injury compensation program. As recently as this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its website to contradict the longstanding scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism — a move that thrilled Kennedy’s anti‑vaccine base, yet many “health freedom” supporters still say it is not enough.\n\nSome activists want penalties for companies that profited from pandemic‑era mandates; others want mRNA COVID‑19 shots removed from the market. Their suspicion extends to the movement’s new corporate suitors. Ethan Augreen, who led a state volunteer effort for Kennedy’s presidential bid last year, said “alarm bells” are ringing over meetings with tech leaders about personal health data and the high-profile summit slate, adding, “Grassroots MAHA people definitely don’t trust these corporations.”\n\nLeadership’s response has been to defend the coalition and recalibrate the message in real time. When a few MAHA influencers and two fired HHS employees accused White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Kennedy adviser Stefanie Spear of constraining vaccine reforms, Kennedy publicly backed both, calling Wiles “no better friend in Washington” and noting Spear’s loyalty to Trump. “Let’s build our coalition instead of splintering it,” he wrote.\n\nPolicy optics add another layer. At a recent Oval Office meeting, Kennedy stood with President Donald Trump to tout a deal with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to expand coverage and lower prices for weight‑loss drugs. He had previously voiced skepticism of GLP‑1 medications, emphasizing root‑cause prevention over widespread medication, but he praised the agreement while cautioning it was not a “silver bullet.” CMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz called scrutiny from the base “understandable,” framing the approach as Trump’s negotiation playbook rather than a head‑to‑head fight.\n\nKennedy has also tried to lower the temperature on access while signaling continued reform. Speaking to western governors, he said he does not intend to take away people’s access to vaccines. Jeffrey Tucker of the Brownstone Institute, a supporter, summarized the balancing act: “It’s very important to hold on to your ideals. But if you’re doing nothing but throwing rocks, then you can become a problem.”\n\nThe stakes extend beyond HHS. The fissures in MAHA threaten the cohesion of a movement that has given Trump an important ally and Republicans access to new voters, even as cracks have appeared within the Make America Great Again base on other issues. MAHA’s promise — from cleaner food and environments to lower chronic disease and rethought vaccination programs — invites diverse constituencies, including moneyed interests such as health‑data startups, AI firms, drugmakers and even fast‑food brands like Steak ’n Shake, which promoted its beef‑tallow fries as part of the movement.\n\nFor now, MAHA’s center holds, buoyed by public support and elite‑stage partnerships that expand its reach. The question is whether leadership can keep threading the needle between corporate collaboration and grassroots distrust, aggressive vaccine reforms and preserving access, headline deals and long‑horizon prevention. Kennedy has pledged changes to vaccine injury compensation and urged supporters to focus on the “monumental work” ahead. As additional MAHA events and negotiations unfold, supporters and skeptics alike will watch how HHS translates slogans into rules, contracts and results — and who gets a seat on the stage.’, ‘word_count’: 846}
