Washington, D.C. — Spearheaded by vaccine skeptic Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., this week the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” Commission released its strategy for improving children’s health—a strategy that promulgates false and confusing information about vaccines, sows doubt about established medical science, and fails to address the most urgent threats to child health.
New analysis from the Center for American Progress breaks down where the MAHA report errs and how it will really affect American children. The authors demonstrate how the report fails to address the Trump administration’s push to limit vaccine access, cutting of food aid for children, and removal of the regulations protecting U.S. air and water from pollution.
Key findings from the analysis include:
- The report calls for using “gold-standard science” to address childhood chronic disease, but the Trump administration has gutted the same institutions responsible for studying children’s health and preventing chronic diseases.
- The report describes fluoride as a “water contaminant” despite decades of research demonstrating that fluoridation is effective in reducing tooth decay—the most common childhood chronic disease.
- The report accurately identifies some issues—such as poor diet and chronic stress—that harm children’s health, but fails to acknowledge causes such as food insecurity and poverty or to advocate for science-based nutrition programs.
- The report fails to mention any strategies to address the leading cause of death among American children and adolescents: gun violence.
“The MAHA commission’s report squanders real opportunities to improve our children’s health,” said Jill Rosenthal, director of public health policy at CAP and co-author of the column. “It sows doubt and confusion about effective health strategies and distracts from the real drivers of childhood disease and avoidable death—and from the policies this administration is pursuing, which pose an existential threat to our children’s health.”
Read the column: “What the Trump Administration, RFK Jr., and the MAHA Report Got Wrong About Improving Children’s Health” by Jill Rosenthal and Steve Woolf
For more information or to speak with an expert, contact Mishka Espey at [email protected].