--- title: New D.C. Normal: RFK Jr. Says 1 Thing, Medical Leaders Another description: Vaccines were a key topic in RFK. Jr.'s new report, and at an event in which many public health leaders united against RFK's "war on science." canonical: https://time.com/7315932/vaccines-rfk-jr-maha-report-takeaways/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-10T14:50:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T08:10:56.210Z article:section: Politics og:title: Major RFK Jr. Health Report Sows Vaccine Fears; Experts Push Back Hard og:description: At the unveiling of RFK Jr.'s report, the dog whistles were more like foghorns. og:url: https://time.com/7315932/vaccines-rfk-jr-maha-report-takeaways/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1577fcde9fbda8b5/6998c9a6f1b0825b0a6f1ab3/GettyImages-2233922235.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Doctors And Public Health Experts Join Sen. Sanders In Promoting Vaccine Safety And Effectiveness og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Major RFK Jr. Health Report Sows Vaccine Fears; Experts Push Back Hard twitter:description: At the unveiling of RFK Jr.'s report, the dog whistles were more like foghorns. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1577fcde9fbda8b5/6998c9a6f1b0825b0a6f1ab3/GettyImages-2233922235.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # As RFK Jr. Unveils Health Report, Medical Leaders Press Their Own Message: Vaccines Work > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f331b32d-3056-49f0-b5db-c6c473948196&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: RFK Jr. Releases HHS Report on Children's Health [Watch (HLS stream): RFK Jr. Releases HHS Report on Children's Health](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b1wKy3UW.m3u8) (4:59)  _Published 2025-09-09. The first MAHA report, released in May and titled “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” mentioned ultra-processed foods more than 40 times, blaming them for negative health outcomes in children. The just-released follow-up action plan, which outlines the Trump Administration’s strategy for fixing the problems identified by the first report, mentions ultra-processed foods only once, pledging that government agencies would continue to try to develop a definition for them._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Sep 10, 2025 2:50 PM UTC The first MAHA report, released in May and titled “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” mentioned ultra-processed foods more than 40 times, blaming them for negative health outcomes in children. The just-released follow-up action plan, which outlines the Trump Administration’s strategy for fixing the problems identified by the first report, mentions ultra-processed foods only once, pledging that government agencies would continue to try to develop a definition for them.  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Sep 10, 2025 2:50 PM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ The nation’s top health officials, regulators, and policy wonks huddled on the eighth floor of the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday to take a victory lap for a new report on children’s health that was big on hype—[128 ideas!](https://time.com/7315789/maha-report-strategy-plan-rfk-jr/)—but slim on actual prescriptions. At a separate event called by Sen. [Bernie Sanders](https://time.com/7277392/bernie-sanders-coachella-appearance-speech-donald-trump-warning/), the democratic socialist from Vermont, there was railing about the massive hypocrisy coming out of the Trump administration when it comes to health priorities. Both fit the pattern of Washington right now: lots of noise around following the real science, but where that science leads depends on who is the tutor. Sanders had leading medical figures standing with him. But HHS Secretary [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.](https://time.com/7314644/rfk-jr-senate-hearing-takeaways/) is running the largest health operation in the world. At the [unveiling](https://time.com/7315789/maha-report-strategy-plan-rfk-jr/) of a report by Kennedy’sMake America Health Again Commission, the dog whistles were more like foghorns. Kennedy’s report raises questions about when children should get what [vaccines](https://time.com/7211491/eleanor-menzin-childhood-vaccine-myths-essay/) when and whether [fluoride](https://time.com/7172655/is-fluoride-in-drinking-water-safe/) in drinking water is at safe levels—two areas where leading experts have said he is spreading misinformation. A new National Institutes of Health center to study childhood chronic disease was also proposed, on top of wanting more information on the patterns behind how kids were prescribed anti-depressants and medicines to treat ADHD. The report also wants a closer look at the effects of electromagnetic radiation, the microbiome, and the root causes of autism. Oh, and the reports’ authors want a public-education campaign aimed at improving fertility. (Yes, that made its way into a report about children’s health.) More broadly, the report criticizes [ultra-processed foods](https://time.com/7007857/ultra-processed-foods-advocate/), chemical over-exposure, and overmedication. Kennedy called for more studies into vaccine injuries, which he argued are far under-reported, and the over-prescription of drugs. But the recommendations stopped short of a ban on pesticides and processed foods for kids, which had some industry insiders on K Street thinking they had dodged one of their biggest fears of the Secretary’s crusade. In short: it’s a list of goals but not real concrete steps to achieve any of them. The vagueness may be the point to give Kennedy cover from his growing camp of critics while letting the MAHA folks thinkthey’re getting their wish list. It may be too cute by half. “There's never been an effort like this across all the government agencies,” Kennedy boasted as other Cabinet and top administration officials surrounded the made-for-TV debrief.  Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. prepares for a TV interview outside of the West Wing of the White House on Sept. 9, 2025. Saul Loeb—AFP via Getty Images Hours earlier, Sanders was bashing Kennedy and Republicans for their skepticism about vaccines, hostility to expertise, and [purge](https://time.com/7312827/susan-monarez-cdc-director/) of medical talent—including top hands at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. “At this unprecedented moment in American history, it is important to share the facts as clearly as we can,” Sanders said, flanked by representatives from major medical associations that count more than 100,000 professionals as members. “Vaccines work. Period.” The United States, Sanders said, is “witnessing a full-blown war on science, on public health and on truth itself.” The dueling events in Washington on Tuesday illustrated just how Kennedy’s typically grunt role as the nation’s health secretary has roiled Washington, ignited a public discussion about normally administrative backwaters, and scrambled the public’s view of what the federal government should and shouldn’t be doing around the country’s biggest health challenges. “We are now the sickest country in the world,” Kennedy said, sliding back into one of his familiar talking points. Yet it was hard to take Kennedy’s prescriptions at face value amid the glaring contradictions. While he called for improving the quality of food available to Americans, the Trump spending regime has cut support for poor families to reach it. “Nutrition drives disease,” Kennedy’s deputy, Jim O’Neill, said. The report seeks better data on environmental factors, while in practice the Trump team slashed money for those numbers. At one point, Kennedy dodged a question on gun violence by turning to the conservative talking point that the problem is not firearms but rather mental health and maybe even video games. The MAHA takeover in Washington is having noticeable ripple effects. The sloganeering has cajoled some of the nation’s biggest food brands to shift its offerings, curb the use of some dyes, and even redo [recipes](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/07/22/coke-cane-sugar-health-rfk-jr/) of iconic goods like Coca-Cola and day-to-day items like baby formula. Yet the moves have mostly been symbolic and voluntary. For small-government evangelists sitting in the conference room up on the HHS penthouse level, there was a whole lot of talk about reaching into private companies and family fridges to shape options for consumers. But it was precisely this strain of easy fixes that helped Donald Trump win the presidency a second time. Tuesday’s report included platitudes about making school meals healthier and to limit accessibility to junk food in food stamp programs. Days after Florida [announced](https://time.com/7315108/florida-vaccine-mandates-removal-simon-williams-essay/) plans to becomethe first state to make school vaccinations voluntary, Kennedy called for a revision to childhood vaccine schedules and for new research about chronic diseases. The report also carried praise for whole milk over skim. The report largely tracks with what Kennedy and his allies in the White House have been pushing from the start. In reading from their scripts, the officials returned to a familiar pattern of heaping praise on Trump, who later in the day signed [an order putting limits](https://time.com/7315848/drug-advertising-pharmaceutical-companies-trump-executive-order-side-effects-explainer/) on how drugmakers advertise their products. It was like watching a Cabinet [meeting](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/us/politics/trump-cabinet-meeting.html) that Trump skipped. His MAHA Commission repeatedly said it was rebuilding the food pyramid to limit processed foods and emphasize home-grown whole foods. (The FDA Commission on Tuesday called the widely-seen pyramid a huge source of “misinformation.”) In other matters, Kennedy’s team diagnosed corporate interests and prescription medications as causes to sick, stressed, and screen-fixated kids. But the culture wars always find a way to creep in. The discussion touched on ADHD, autism, psychiatric drugs, video games, and social media. The clang of a political gong is deafening. Childhood health, on its face, should not be a politically divisive subject. But here we are, when political needs supplant decades of medical science. Where piles of research point to one conclusion, the MAGA and MAHA bases—and they are often at different aims—demand something else that feeds their gut. And leading medical experts find themselves having to stand with a Senator from Vermont instead of the top government official in their field. Over the course of a few hours in Washington on Tuesday, the increasingly muddled state of public health unfolded. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite)_._ ## Transcript Today's report outlines a bold framework to improve children's health through 128 targeted directives and strategies. This report is the result of a thorough and robust policy process that relied heavily on the input and expertise of families, farmers, doctors, industry leaders and innovators. This strategy aims to create systemic change to protect and promote children's health through four key pillars one. Driving innovation through research. Two policies to realign incentives and systems three. Increase public awareness and knowledge, and fourth, private sector collaboration. There's never been a president in my lifetime that is more willing to challenge businesses when they overreach. It was more fearless about challenging entrenched interests in our society. And so many times I've had discussions with them about a certain injury or illness. and heal, and how unpopular it will be if we talk about the solutions which are going to hurt certain businesses. And he said, I don't care. He says, again and again, I don't care. This is children. We need to save the children. A lot of these 128 recommendations are things that I've been dreaming about my whole life. I've been working for and congressional campaigns and presidential campaigns for other candidates. And they get into office and they say, well, we can't, we just can't do it. A lot of these things are things that I never thought about. But there are real scientific issues that need to be addressed. Why are autism rates going up so quickly? What can we do about it? You know what? What, uh, what's the answer for, uh, type type one diabetes for kids? Um, what are the long term effects of the rising use of antidepressants in children? Um, you know, the problem of ADHD. You can go on and on and on and on. What you have is a picture of real questions that need to be answered with excellent science at the Trump EPA. We are accelerating innovative and vetted crop protection products to enhance an American system of agriculture that is already the best in the world. At the same time, EPA is aggressively confronting and addressing the threat of banned pesticides imported or smuggled into the United States from China and elsewhere. These are highly toxic substances that can be fatal to humans and animals and damage our environment. It is a top priority, in line with the Make America Healthy Commission to protect Americans from this threat. The EPA is arguably the most rigorous, the most data backed, the most scientifically deep review process in the world And to approve any product that is used by our farmers. It will have gone through years upon years upon years of research. Tools that are meant to fight disease, such as vaccines, antibiotics and therapeutics can save lives can also trigger adverse events in some patients, and that truth must no longer be denied or distorted. We are bringing transparency and research to this critical connection. We had lots of guns when we were kids. We had comparably the same number of guns. Nobody was doing that. We had gun clubs in my school. Kids brought guns to school and were encouraged to do so. And nobody was walking into schools and shooting people. So and this is not happening in other countries. There are many, many things that happen in the 1990s that could explain these. One is the dependence on on psychiatric drugs, which is in our country, is unlike any other country in the world. It could be there could be connections with video games, with social media. There are a number of things, and we are looking at that at NIH. So we are doing studies now or initiating studies to look at the correlation and the connection potential connection between overmedicating our kids and, uh, and this violence. The committee, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, is reviewing the science on every vaccine. They're reviewing the reports in the in the vaccine adverse event reporting System and, and in the scientific literature. And they will be reviewing vaccine recommendations. So, you know, that is something there's a panel of experts. It's going to meet again, I think on September 18th. And they're going to do a real gold standard scientific review. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7315932/vaccines-rfk-jr-maha-report-takeaways/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7315932/vaccines-rfk-jr-maha-report-takeaways/"},"headline":"As RFK Jr. Unveils Health Report, Medical Leaders Press Their Own Message: Vaccines Work","datePublished":"2025-09-10T14:50:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T08:10:56.210Z","description":"Vaccines were a key topic at two events in Washington, D.C. with very different messages.","url":"https://time.com/7315932/vaccines-rfk-jr-maha-report-takeaways/","keywords":["The D.C. 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