Tag: make America healthy again

Jayanta Bhattacharya (Podcast Jay) being interviewed by Ross Douthat.

Lysenkoism 2.0 continues: Podcast Jay wants to turn NIH into the “research arm” of MAHA

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya has recently said that he wants to transform the NIH into the "research arm of MAHA" and a "central driver of the MAHA agenda." Lysenkoism 2.0 continues apace at NIH.

/ February 2, 2026
Large factory chimneys releasing thick smoke into the air, with industrial buildings and ships in the foreground under a cloudy sky, indicating heavy air pollution.

The Health Effects of Air Pollution

Air pollution remains a grave threat to human health, but MAHA is doing nothing about it.

/ January 28, 2026
A man speaks at a podium with the presidential seal, surrounded by six people in formal attire, standing in a room with wooden doors and a large painting on the wall behind them.

MAHA Gave Us MAGA 2.0.  Remember the Enablers.

When the history of this sad era is written, MAHA doctors will be disgraced pariahs and cautionary tales.  Everyone else should be remembered based only on whether they tried to put the brakes on MAHA/MAGA however they could or whether they slammed the accelerator.

/ January 23, 2026
Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.)

RFK Jr. is definitely coming for your vaccines (part 6): Liability, ethics, and policy-based evidence making

As 2026 dawns, look for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ramp up his assault on vaccines using policy-based evidence making and altering Vaccine Court standards.

/ January 19, 2026
Debate

Revisiting the question of debating science deniers

Wealthy tech bro turned antivax crank Steve Kirsch attacked Paul Offit for refusing to debate antivaxxers, while Dr. Mike was "surrounded" by MAHA stans. These recent events led me to revisit the question: Is it ever a good strategy to publicly debate cranks?

/ January 5, 2026
Charlton Heston as George Taylor in The Planet of the Apes.

It’s a madhouse! Public health under the heirs to Lysenko (and Dr. Zaius) in 2025

As 2025 barrels towards its depressing conclusion, I look back at the damage federal science and medicine have sustained thus far under Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. through the lens of a classic film. Truly, it's a madhouse, in which our federal science apparatus is run by Lysenko's heirs.

/ December 29, 2025

The FDA under MAHA control: Weakening the quack Miranda warning on supplements

The FDA sent a letter to the supplement industry assuring that it would make it easier for them to hide disclaimers (which we like to call "quack Miranda warnings") about unproven health claims for supplements. What does this tell us about MAHA?

/ December 15, 2025
Trump is antivax.

“Best practices”: The buzzword that the Trump administration will use to eliminate as many vaccines as RFK Jr. can

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met last week, eliminating the universal recommendation for the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. There was, however, a more insidious threat to vaccines in a White House press release after the meeting cloaked under the buzzword "best practices."

/ December 8, 2025
A person in a yellow shirt stands closely in front of a mirror, touching the glass and looking intently at their own reflection, which appears thoughtful.

If The Atlantic Wishes to Honestly Understand the Origins of MAHA, They Need to Investigate The Atlantic.

The Atlantic has some of the best writers around. But they were also eager to launder right-wing talking points under the guise of a being liberal, reasonable, and moderate publication, able to see all nuanced sides of complex issues.

/ November 28, 2025
Two panels show how PD-L1 on tumor cells binds to PD-1 on T cells to block immune response, and how anti-PD-L1 or anti-PD-1 drugs block this interaction, allowing T cells to kill tumor cells.

The opposite of “turbo cancer”: COVID-19 vaccines sensitize cancer to immunotherapy

A new preliminary study published in Nature suggests that COVID-19 vaccines might actually boost the immune system to make immunotherapy more effective. If confirmed in followup studies, this result suggests that the vaccines do the opposite of causing "turbo cancer."

/ October 27, 2025