At ‘Make America Healthy Again’ summit, Vance praises RFK Jr. for defying convention
WASHINGTON– Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday praised Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s willingness to question established science and embrace nontraditional voices in health care, saying that often throughout history “all the experts were wrong.”
In remarks during a fireside chat between the two men at a “Make America Healthy Again” summit in the nation’s capital, Vance also supported Kennedy’s MAHA movement, saying it has been “a vital part of our success in Washington.”
Vance’s words show how Kennedy, whose devastating approach to public health agencies and his long-standing skepticism about vaccines made him a polarizing figure among the public and in Congress, was embraced by the White House as a necessary force for change.
“Of all the specific initiatives that you have worked on effectively, the most important thing is that your team is prepared to ask questions that members of the government haven’t asked in a long time,” Vance told Kennedy on stage.
The Vance-Kennedy event was broadcast live, but the summit was otherwise closed to the press.
Even though President Donald Trump and Kennedy have disagreed on issues ranging from COVID-19 vaccines to abortion, the White House this year has largely left Kennedy alone as he has made sweeping changes to the agencies he leads, including furloughing thousands of workers, laying off scientific advisers and remaking vaccine guidelines.
The Trump administration has touted Kennedy’s efforts to phase out artificial colors in foods, wage war on ultra-processed foods and update national dietary guidelines. As health secretary, he said he wanted to find the root causes of chronic diseases and help Americans reduce their exposure to toxins.
Critics, including some of the nation’s leading medical associations, say Kennedy’s disregard for established science foments public distrust of mainstream medicine and that his views, once considered fringe, are amplified since his post as health secretary. Kennedy and his allies dispute that their agenda is anti-science.
Vance agreed that many in Kennedy’s network do not come from conventional medical circles and that some have more experience in business than in health. In fact, many of the health secretary’s close allies and new hires have flatly rejected the medical consensus on topics like vaccines and how to cure chronic diseases.
“We have to be comfortable challenging some of these old orthodoxies, and part of that means welcoming people who are a little unusual,” Vance said.
Vance noted that Kennedy’s interest in disrupting the bureaucracy came under the leadership of a president with a similar mentality.
“That’s a good summary of Donald J. Trump is that he brings a bulldozer to the windows of Overton every day,” Vance said. The Overton Window refers to “the range of policies considered acceptable by the majority of a population,” according to Britannica.com.
The MAHA event at a Washington hotel follows another meeting in Austin, Texas, that hosted many of the same attendees — the annual conference of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group that Kennedy led.
That weekend conference, which featured Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, as keynote speaker, was more directly focused on vaccination, with sessions such as “The Continuing Nightmare of COVID mRNA Technology” and “Understanding the Enormity of Vaccine Injuries.”
Wednesday’s packed room of Trump administration officials, biotech entrepreneurs, MAHA influencers and others included sessions on topics such as how artificial intelligence is being used in health care, reversing aging, making healthier foods and much more.
MAHA Action, the Kennedy support group that is organizing the event, said Trump’s joining the movement marks “a watershed moment in American health policy.”
“Today is an important milestone,” Tony Lyons, president of MAHA Action, said in the release. “It’s the culmination of a movement that lasted 40 years.”
