Elections seem top-of-mind for the MAHA movement as key polling indicates anti-vaccine views are a liability

US health officials appear to be shying away from voicing negative views of vaccines in public as November’s midterm elections loom and key polling indicates anti-vaccine views are a liability.

Health officials have made unprecedented changes to routine vaccine recommendations in the past year – slashing one-third of the US childhood schedule, including the recommendation for hepatitis B immunization at birth. But even before a federal judge essentially invalidated these moves, officials haven’t championed their dramatic changes after Donald Trump’s pollsters recommended veering away from anti-vaccine ideology ahead of the midterms.

The elections seem top-of-mind for US health officials. At a conference on women’s health in March sponsored by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Marty Makary, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), referenced support from the “Make America healthy again” (MAHA) movement in the 2024 election.