There was no mention of Make America Healthy Again in Trump’s State of the Union speech
The US President on Tuesday largely distanced himself from his administration’s health care agenda amid widespread pressure to tone down anti-vaccination efforts ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
US President Donald Trump, accompanied by Vice President JD Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), delivers his State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington DC on February 24, 2026.
Andrew Harnik/Staff/Getty Images
US President Donald Trump’s record-long State of the Union address on Tuesday covered topics ranging from immigration to the economy and military strikes on Iran to crime. But one pillar of his administration’s second-term agenda was glaringly missing: “Make America Healthy Again,” or MHA.
Proponents of the MAHA movement, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., have supported removing ultraprocessed ingredients and additives from food and redrafting national dietary guidance. Under Kennedy, the Department of Health and Human Services and its affiliated agencies have sought to overhaul drug development and have supported, without evidence, skepticism toward vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its vaccination schedule earlier this year to reduce the number of diseases it recommends children routinely get vaccinated against from 17 to 11.
These moves have not been without controversy. Although childhood vaccination rates There has been a worldwide decline since the Covid pandemic Childhood vaccines are widely popular. Doctors and other medical experts seem to be ignoring Recently CDC has changed the vaccine schedule. The lack of MAHA in Trump’s Tuesday address and the recent changes among HHS leadership suggest that the Trump administration may be in trouble. MAHA and de-emphasizing any antivaccine efforts Ahead of the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.
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Trump in a speech of one hour 48 minutes spent less than five minutes On health care. The President mentioned TrumpRx, his signature drug pricing program, and his desire to make in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment more affordable. He not mentioned Once a great movement.
This omission is notable, given the major role played by the MHA in Trump’s presidential campaign and Kennedy’s broader actions during his first year as Secretary of Health. But in recent months cracks have appeared in the MHA movement. Apart from protests against changes in the vaccine schedule, some MAHA supporters have made an issue of supporting Kennedy For Trump’s recent executive order promoting the production of the weed killer glyphosate, which public health experts have described as “potentially carcinogenic“
However, MAHA has not been completely eclipsed. On Wednesday, Trump’s surgeon general-elect Casey Means appeared before a Senate committee for his confirmation hearing. Means is a prominent MHA advocate and has previously been critical of the food and drug industries for how much a healthy diet can help prevent disease, a cornerstone of the MHA movement.
Before Trump’s speech, some Republicans had expressed fears that he would May have to suffer heavy election loss In the medium term. It remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will move away from the more controversial aspects of Kennedy’s agenda and refocus on areas, such as nutrition, that are widely popular.
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