In 2020, I followed a lot of momfluencers on social media who were skeptical about the coronavirus. I wanted to know how they voiced their concerns about mask-wearing and the spread of disease. I had hoped that over time I could somehow reverse engineer the information pathways that lead some women from coronavirus skepticism to the anti-vaccination movement, and possibly other fringe beliefs and conspiracy theories. . I thought that if I could understand their information diet, I could better explain their motivations, if only to myself.
The first thing I noticed was that some of these women looked like the “Christian Girl Fall” meme, with their wide-brimmed hats and beachy waves, and they weren’t trying to convince mainstream medicine or They said that they tend to have a backstory that makes them distrust medical ideas. Expertise. They often had horrific medical problems during pregnancy or soon after giving birth, felt unheard by their obstetricians and pediatricians, or felt mistreated in the hospital. The experience planted seeds of fear and doubt. Online merchants peddling “natural” treatments and proponents of debunked theories about the dangers of vaccines are happy to share their raw emotions, even if the health care system isn’t. Verified.
I have been covering the anti-vaccination movement for more than 10 years, and the political values of vaccine skepticism have changed significantly. When I first started writing about anti-vaxxers before COVID-19, I didn’t think they were particularly connected to either the Democratic or Republican parties, but if you ask me, they probably I would have said that I was a liberal-leaning hippie type. By 2020, the influencers who had risen to the top of my algorithm were all actively Republican, and many were vocal supporters of Donald Trump (though they did not support Trump’s role in Operation Warp Speed). (He didn’t seem to be paying attention at all.)
When I saw a short video ad for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, I was thinking about the momfluencers who are skeptical about the coronavirus. Kennedy describes the movement as a “partnership with President Donald Trump to transform our nation’s food, fitness, and health.” air, water, soil, and medicine. The video was released this month after Kennedy withdrew from the presidential race and former staffers founded the MAHA Alliance super PAC, which seeks to persuade Kennedy supporters to vote for Trump. Ta.
Kennedy appears to be trying to regain the public standing he gained during his failed presidential campaign by returning to the vaccine skepticism that was central to his understanding of how the world works — namely my As my news colleague Anjali Huynh said: It’s a conspiracy theory. ”
Kennedy said the first thing viewers can do to support his cause is to buy a “Make America Healthy Again” hat and wear it everywhere. However, Kennedy went on to explain: “Our top priority is to clean up public health agencies such as the CDC, NIH, FDA, and USDA. These government agencies have become puppets of the industries they are supposed to regulate. President Trump And I will replace corrupt officials captured by industry with honest public servants.”
I was struck by Kennedy’s commitment to the responsibility that the mothers I initially followed seemed to want. He rambles on, much like the social media stars in my feed, set against a backdrop of attractive white families eating salads and hiking. The clip ends with an adorable, stubby-headed preschooler holding a large stick and saying, “Make America Healthy Again!”
It would be easy to dismiss the Trump-Kennedy alliance as mercenary. By appealing to a shared distrust of government, Trump could wipe out a small but vocal group of former Kennedy voters, giving him some influence over Trump’s policies if he wins. can. . The Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey says President Trump’s pro-business interests and desire for deregulation are part of what she calls a “crisis in conservatism” that yearns for European-style food regulation. I think it is contradictory. “The Maga-Maha match appears to be tactical and temporary,” Godfrey concluded in late September.
I don’t know if it’s temporary or not. On October 18, the Wall Street Journal reported that “President Kennedy has worked with President Trump’s advisers to develop a list of potential policies and personnel,” and that “President Trump has no plans to hold any office in his administration.” “He also promised to consider Mr. Kennedy,” a person familiar with the matter said. He said the issue also includes the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The position oversees more than 80,000 federal employees, a budget of more than $3 trillion, and a wide range of federal policy. ” Dr. Robert Redfield, who served as CDC Director under the Trump administration, expressed full support for Kennedy and MAHA’s mission in a Sept. 24 Newsweek op-ed essay, calling the “Kennedy Commission on Childhood Chronic Diseases.” proposed the installation of
Whether or not the MAHA movement takes off, Kennedy is not alone in his view. A paper published in The Lancet in March 2023 explains this phenomenon:
Before the pandemic, anti-vaccine activity was increasingly aligned with conservative political identities. Two developments were important to this conservative change. One is California’s 2015 legislative effort to eliminate personal belief exemptions for school immunizations (Bill SB-277), during which anti-vaccination activists deliberately activated and They rallied to expand their following beyond their naturalist leftist base. Reach out to potential Tea Party and Libertarian allies. Another was the formation of influential political action committees (such as Texans for Vaccine Choice) that lobby state legislatures and promote conservative political candidates with anti-vaccine positions. For anti-vaccine activists, this reciprocity has given them access to funding, political influence, and a wider audience. For the libertarian right, it provided a group of politically active Americans who could direct their support to other causes.
The MAHA movement frames its cause as one of parental freedom, arguing that trusting medical or government expertise is a denial of the individual rights of mothers who know best. For those who have been burned by the health care system at their or their children’s most vulnerable moments, as many anti-vaccine influencers have said, this is a very seductive message.
I don’t think pro-vaccine and pro-science people in either party are doing enough to counter this message. According to a September Gallup poll, “67 percent of American adults say health care is not getting enough attention during the 2024 presidential campaign.” Confidence in the health care system is currently at near-low levels, hovering around 35%.
I spoke to Dr. Caitlin Jetelina, an epidemiologist and author of the newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist, given the fact that the MAHA movement is so widespread and raises legitimate concerns about the well-being of Americans. , asked about how to fight the MAHA movement. She recognizes the challenge of communicating health information in the social media age. “The information landscape is very different these days,” she said, and people “can no longer rely on trickle-down from an ivory tower.”
Jetelina’s most counterintuitive idea is that even somewhat complex answers can actually work. “There’s this idea that everyone just needs a simple answer or a simple communication message. ‘Let’s get the vaccine. Don’t drink raw milk. “You’re in an information environment where you have access to. And you know what? The average person can understand the nuances. I’ve seen that over the last five years,” she said. .
Those nuances include messages about what vaccines can and cannot do. She particularly praised the CDC’s flu vaccination campaign, which emphasized that vaccines can change the disease from “wild to mild.”
It’s easy to laugh at Kennedy’s truly baffling set of beliefs. To me, this guy has a literal brain and a figurative brain worm. But mocking him and his followers won’t change his mind. It might just make them double.
“I have a lot of empathy for people who are trying to do the right thing, especially parents who are just trying to raise healthy, good human beings and are under a lot of stress because there’s so much conflicting information out there.” Yo. ” said Jetelina.
It may be impossible to break through the internet noise on these issues. It’s definitely a tough battle. But we should try to take these concerns seriously. Because otherwise, parents will just sit there with Kennedy listening sympathetically.
For now, pro-vaccine opinion has prevailed, but confidence in public health remains shaken. Whether Mr. Trump wins or gives Mr. Kennedy a position of power in his administration, his desire to sow doubts into our nation’s health care system will outlast both of them.
