After years of feeling Gaslit and rejection, we make America health again activists and see their beliefs being promoted in the White House.
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After years of feeling marginalized by their views, sometimes challenged by scientists, the mother of Make America Healthy Movement – the so-called Maha Moms – is excited to see many of their beliefs being promoted at the highest level of government.
At an event on September 22, when President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services President Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discussed the link between Tylenol use in pregnancy and the onset of autism or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the man looked back on the podium to two Mahamas and encouraged people to listen to women.
According to Claire Dooley of Washington, DC, Maha Mama feels she’s been in the conversation for the first time, according to Claire Dooley of Washington, DC, a second-generation advocate who is skeptical of vaccines.
“There’s an entire group of people who have felt alienated for a very long time. Now they don’t feel that way anymore. I think it’s like a way for us to step into the future,” Dooley said.
Vaccines are an important issue for Mahama
The Maha movement brings together supporters of independent health care and parental rights. Some moms want a more organic lifestyle, and others feel distrustful of pharmaceutical companies. There are groups backed by donations from grassroots advocacy groups, private funders, Facebook groups and nonprofits like Kennedy’s previous project, Children’s Health Defense.
“I think a lot of the people in Maha are coming from the left who feel alienated,” Dooley said. “So there are people who are listening to us, and we’re like, ‘OK, the right is listening to us, let’s do that.”
One important theme of the Maha movement is the idea that vaccines cause autism. Scientists have exposed all sorts of relationships for decades. The 1998 study that popularized the myth was withdrawn 15 years ago, and British medical journals called it “elaborate scams.” However, many moms support their vision and continue to search for answers.
Dooley, 26, is a filmmaker who will be joining the committee of Maha Action, a group founded with some of Kennedy’s former presidential election staff in December, and is run by well-known anti-vaccinated film producers. She comes to know about moms who say their children were seriously injured by the vaccine. She says no one should oppose trying to make the vaccine as safe as possible.
Her mother, 50-year-old Merisha Dooley of Mississippi and six self-explained “crunchy” moms, tried to the nation to help Congress expel children from the vaccine for religious reasons. The federal judge issued the exemption in 2023 in response to a lawsuit from his parents.
“It all comes down to parental rights,” said Merisha Dooley, whose children are between the ages of 12 and 30.
Merisha Dooley says she wants to see Kennedy take on “corporate capture” in American healthcare. Specifically, she hopes he will help him repeal the 1986 law that protected doctors and pharmaceutical companies from vaccine liability and established an arbitration system for people to argue about vaccine injuries.
Congress passed its law and stopped making vaccines for diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus because pharmaceutical companies faced so many responsibilities, but that’s controversial. “If I’m going to put something on my body, someone needs to stand behind it,” Merisha Dooley said of the pharmaceutical company.
Kennedy posted on Facebook hours after the event on September 22nd, highlighting his comments that a significant portion of mothers of children with autism believe their child has been injured by the vaccine. He said the administration is “examined” the vaccine and criticised the scientific community for not doing enough in the past.
Kennedy previously overhauled major vaccine panels and added new members who are skeptical of the vaccine. The panel voted against recommending the vaccine with the preservative thimerosal. This has long been a target for anti-vaccine advocates and encourages more conversations between patients and their doctors about vaccine risks.
Claire Dooley said she was working with Kennedy and seeing him do his job and trusted him in his intentions. “I’m going to do everything he can in his position,” Claire Dooley said of Kennedy. “But he can’t come out again and say, ‘The vaccines are causing autism, and let’s take them all away.” ”
Using Tylenol during pregnancy
Alana Newman, the 39-year-old mother of three who lives in Dallas, said a September 22 press conference with Kennedy, Trump and other health officials helped her not feel “gaslit” anymore. Authorities discussed the potential link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and a diagnosis of autism or ADHD, but Trump unscripted and made unfounded claims.
“It was comforting that Trump actually cared about his mother’s perspective and brought his two mothers to the podium,” Newman said. “I’m so tired of people who say, ‘Alana’s not a doctor’ and basically call me stupid. ”
Public health experts, scientists, doctors and Tylenol makers have pushed back all claims made at the press conference. Two dozen studies have found a link, but others disprove the link, so there are no resolved discoveries in the scientific community that acetaminophen causes autism or ADHD.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a September 24 call that he had not claimed causality in the MAHA action. “What we know is that people taking a significant amount of acetaminophen appear to be at a higher risk of having autistic children,” he said.
“The government may notice something about what will happen historically, but they’re not 100% sure, 95% seem to be sure. So there’s a lot of criticism that happens if you’re not 100% sure, so they’ll keep it,” he said. “This administration is clearly different.”
Dr. Andrea Bacarelli, a professor and dean at Harvard University, is the dean of the study, and in a statement said in a statement that the risk of developing neurodevelopmental disorders after prenatal use of Tylenol is most pronounced when used by anticipated mothers for more than four weeks. He said animal studies support causality.
Baccarelli calls acetaminophen a “important tool” as it is the only approved drug for pain relief and fever during pregnancy. Ibuprofen and full-dose aspirin are not recommended for late pregnancy. Therefore, he said he and his colleagues recommend a “balanced approach” to take the lowest possible dose in the shortest possible period after consultation with the doctor.
Stephanie Carmody, 50, a podcaster from Glastonbury, Connecticut who helps raise the 8-year-old nie, said the Tylenol announcement was “a big step in the right direction.” She praised Kennedy for taking her to a large pharmaceutical company and spoke about her own silence to take over-the-counter medication.
“I don’t think most people are aware of the simplest things like acetaminophen, the damage that most people can do,” Carmody said. “So I think it’s a step in the right direction, because what I’m about to see is going to see the floodgates open.”
Some Mahamamas are targeting the food system
A general pediatrician from Charlotte, North Carolina, and from moms to three children, Dr. Anna Maria Temple said he likes Kennedy swings things around. She said she treats conditions such as eczema, neurological inflammation and autism based on nutrition rather than medication.
Temple said many doctors working in hospital-based practices can only get 10 minutes on patients at a time, making them insufficient for nutritional lifestyle interventions. She said the medication is faster for doctors and many patients want a quick fix.
“I like it (since) RFK came out, he said, “Wait, what are we doing? Why are so many kids sick?” “The only thing you can hear in the traditional model is, ‘Well, that’s exactly what we have. We have the medicine for that.” ”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that two in five children have at least one chronic health condition, including asthma, obesity, behavioral problems, and learning difficulties.
Vani Hari, a 46-year-old mother of two from Charlotte, North Carolina, has been advocating for the removal of chemicals in processed foods for over a decade. She is pleased with Kennedy’s defense of removing certain additives from her food.
For example, in 2013, she launched a Change.org petition against Kraft, removing the artificial food dyes yellow 5 and yellow 6 from macaroni and cheese products. According to CNN, the company removed the dye from the box containing SpongeBob squares and Halloween-shaped pasta. She also convinced Chick-fil-A to switch to antibiotic-free chicken in 2014.
“It’s been only a few months since he took office, and he’s already convinced that more than half of the food industry will start removing artificial food dyes,” Hari said. “He is being asked to update his review of nutrition guidelines for infant prescriptions.
“He also highlights how the healthcare industry system is failing the American public. We spend more on healthcare than any other country, and we have the worst health outcomes.
