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Consider This from NPR

Is MAHA influencing health policy?

Consider This from NPR

NPR

Society & Culture, News, Daily News, News Commentary

4.15.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

At the recent Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, summit - which was attended by the U.S. Secretary of Health and the Vice President - the agenda showed a shift toward alternative medicine, wellness and nutrition and away from conventional medication. Most of the speakers were not academic researchers or doctors. To discuss what happens when government guidance moves away from scientific consensus, Miles Parks speaks with Dr. Sandro Galea, a Distinguished Professor in Public Health, and Dean of the Washington University School of Public Health in St Louis, Missouri.


For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected] episode was produced by Avery Keatley and Jordan-Marie Smith. It was edited by Ahmad Damen. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. 





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Transcript

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0:00.0

Earlier this month, Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President Vance met in Washington, D.C., for a Make America Healthy Again, or Maha Summit.

0:09.8

The summit's agenda showed a shift towards alternative medicine, wellness, and nutrition, and away from conventional medications.

0:17.9

Here's Vance speaking at the summit.

0:19.6

We should only be taking stuff. We should only be giving

0:21.8

our kids stuff if it's actually necessary, safe, and effective. This was the only public event.

0:28.1

All the other sessions were invitation-only private events. Politico did, though, acquire a copy of the

0:33.6

summit's agenda, which included topics like psychedelics, food as medicine, anti-aging,

0:39.2

and biohacking.

0:40.7

Notably, most of the speakers were not academic researchers and doctors.

0:45.3

Vance also criticized the medical establishment.

0:47.8

They tried to silence the people who were saying things that were outside the Overton

0:52.6

window.

0:53.6

And as we found out the hard way over the last few years, it was very often the people who were outside the Overton window. And as we found out the hard way over the last few years,

0:55.0

it was very often the people who were outside the Overton window

0:58.0

who were actually right and all the experts were wrong.

1:01.0

And this week, the Food and Drug Administration's top leaders

1:05.0

said the agency is vowing stricter vaccine rules,

1:08.0

which alarmed numerous experts that NPR spoke with.

1:12.5

Consider this. The Trump administration is sidelining scientists and researchers.

1:17.8

What does that mean for the health of Americans? From NPR, I'm Miles Parks. This message comes from Bayer.

1:33.3

Science is a rigorous process that requires questions, testing, transparency, and results that can be proven.

1:40.5

This approach is integral to every breakthrough Bayer brings forward. Innovations that save lives and feed the world.

...

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