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The Atlantic ·Behind the news

Public Health Needs MAHA

by Craig Spencer

Published 2026-07-25 07:00:00-04:00

Why are people trusting a political movement to fight the battles health institutions walked away from?

0:00 / 9:55 · Narrator Algieba

Context

Doctors and federal health agencies have spent the last year fighting the MAHA movement in court and in the press. A 25 July 2026 essay in The Atlantic takes a different approach. The real issue isn't whether these activists have their vaccine science right. The uncomfortable question is why millions of Americans feel this new movement is the only group actually fighting for their health. Finding the answer requires looking at a massive failure of public trust, and figuring out exactly what health agencies must do to win it back.

Show notes

An argument for the public health sector to engage with the Make America Healthy Again movement instead of dismissing it as an anti-vaccine fringe. Using polling data and interviews with supporters, the author shows how MAHA channels widespread anger over food additives, environmental toxins, and corporate influence in medicine. Rebuilding public trust, the author suggests, will require traditional health institutions to sever financial ties with pharmaceutical companies and adopt a more visible style of advocacy.

Read on The Atlantic →