After years of feeling marginalized for their views, many of which do not follow mainstream science, the mothers in the Make America Healthy Again movement — the so-called MAHA moms — are excited to see many of their beliefs promoted at the highest level of government.

At a Sept. 22 event at which President Donald Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. discussed a link between Tylenol use in pregnancy and development of autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the men turned over the podium to two MAHA moms and encouraged people to listen to the women.

MAHA moms feel included in the conversation for the first time, according to Claire Dooley of Washington, D.C., a second-generation advocate who is skeptical of vaccines.

"There’s a whole group of people who have been feeling alienated for a very long time, and now we don’t feel like that anymore, and I think that’s kind of the way we can step into the future," Dooley said.

Vaccines are key issue to MAHA moms

The MAHA movement brings together advocates for independent health care and parents rights. There are moms who want a more organic lifestyle, and people who are distrustful of pharmaceutical companies. There are grassroots advocacy groups, groups backed by donations from undisclosed funders, Facebook groups and nonprofits like Kennedy's former project, Children's Health Defense.

"I think a lot of the MAHA people are from the left that have felt alienated," Dooley said. "So we have people on the right who are listening to us, so we’re like 'OK, the right is listening to us, let’s do that.'"

One of the key themes in the MAHA movement is the idea that vaccines cause autism. Scientists for decades have debunked any connection. The 1998 study that popularized the myth was retracted 15 years ago and the British Medical Journal called it "an elaborate fraud." But many moms continue to support the view and search for answers.

Dooley, 26, is a filmmaker involved who sits on a committee for MAHA Action, a group founded in December with some of Kennedy's former presidential campaign staffers and is run by a prominent anti-vaccination film producer. She gets to know moms who say their kids were severely injured by vaccines. She says no one should disagree with trying to make vaccines as safe as possible.

Her mother, 50-year-old Melisha Dooley of Mississippi and self-described "crunchy" mom of six, lobbied the legislature in an effort get the state to allow parents to opt their kids out of vaccines on religious grounds. A federal judge implemented the exemption in 2023 in response to a lawsuit from parents.

"It all comes down to parental rights," said Melisha Dooley, whose kids are between ages 12 and 30. "It’s not my right to tell you what to do with your child, just like it’s not your right to tell me what to do with mine."

Melisha Dooley said she’d like to see Kennedy take on "corporate capture" in American health care. Specifically, she wants to see him help repeal the 1986 law that shielded doctors and pharmaceutical companies from liability for vaccines and set up an arbitration system for people to make claims about vaccine injuries.

Congress passed that law after drug companies were facing so much liability that they stopped making a vaccine for diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus, but it remains controversial. "If I’m going to put something in my body, somebody needs to stand behind that," Melisha Dooley said of pharmaceutical companies.

Kennedy posted on Facebook a few hours after the Sept. 22 event to highlight his comments that a significant portion of moms to kids with autism believe that their child was injured by a vaccine. He said the administration is "closely examining" vaccines and criticized the scientific community for not doing enough in the past.

Kennedy previously overhauled a key vaccine panel, adding new members who are skeptical of vaccines. The panel voted against recommending vaccines with the preservative thimerosal, something anti-vaccine advocates have long targeted, and to encourage more conversations between patients and their doctors about the risks of vaccines.

Claire Dooley said she’s worked with Kennedy, saw him work, and trusts his intentions. "I just know he’s going to do everything he can in his position," Claire Dooley said of Kennedy. "But he also just can’t come out and say, 'Vaccines are causing autism, and let’s take them all away.'"

Tylenol use during pregnancy

Alana Newman, a 39-year-old mother of three who lives in Dallas, said the Sept. 22 news conference with Kennedy, Trump, and other health officials helped her not feel "gaslit" anymore. The officials discussed a potential link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and later diagnoses of autism or ADHD, though Trump went off script and made unfounded claims.

"It was comforting that Trump actually cared about the mother’s perspective and brought two mothers to the podium," Newman said. "I’m so sick and tired of people saying to me, 'Alana you’re not a doctor,' and basically calling me stupid."

Public health experts, scientists, doctors and the maker of Tylenol have all pushed back on claims made during the news conference. Two dozen studies have found a link, but other studies have disproven that link, so there is not a settled finding in the scientific community that acetaminophen causes autism or ADHD.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a call Sept. 24 with MAHA Action that he is not alleging causation. "What we do know is it seems like that folks who take a fair amount of acetaminophen seem to have a higher risk of having children with autism," he said.

"Historically what would happen is government might notice something — but they’re not 100% sure, they’re like 95% sure — so they’ll hold onto it because there’s a lot of criticism that happens if you’re not 100% sure," he said. "This administration has been different demonstrably."

Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, a Harvard University professor and dean who worked on the study, said in a statement that the risk of developing a neurodevelopmental disorder after prenatal use of Tylenol are most pronounced when the expecting mother uses it for four weeks or longer. He said animal studies lend support to a causal relationship.

Baccarelli also called acetaminophen an "important tool" because it is the only approved medicine for pain relief and fever during pregnancy. Ibuprofen and full-dose aspirin aren't recommended in the second half of pregnancy. Therefore, he said he and his colleagues recommend a "balanced approach" to take the lowest dose possible for the shortest period of time possible after consulting with their doctor.

Stephanie Carmody, 50, a podcaster from Glastonbury, Connecticut who helps raise her 8-year-old niece, said the Tylenol announcement was "such a great step in the right direction." She praised Kennedy for taking on Big Pharma and talked about her own reticence to take over-the-counter drugs.

"Something as simple as acetaminophen, I don't think most people realize the damage it can do," Carmody said. "So I think it's a step in the right direction, because what I see from this coming is like, we're going to see the floodgates open."

Some MAHA moms target the food system

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple, a holistic pediatrician from Charlotte, North Carolina and mom to three kids, said she likes how Kennedy is shaking things up. She bases her treatments for conditions such as eczema, neurological inflammation and autism heavily in nutrition rather than medication, she said.

Temple said many doctors working in hospital-based practices only get 10 minutes with a patient at a time, and that’s not enough to do a nutritional lifestyle intervention. She said medication is quicker for the doctor, and many patients want quick fixes.

"I like that (since) RFK has come into play, he's like, 'Wait, what are we doing? Why are so many kids sick?'" Temple said. "Because all I can hear in the traditional model is that, 'Well, that’s just how it is. We have medications for that.'"

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that two in five children have at least one chronic health condition, such as asthma, obesity, behavioral problems or learning difficulties.

Vani Hari, a 46-year-old mom of two from Charlotte, North Carolina, has been an advocate for the removal of chemicals in processed foods for more than a decade. She is happy with Kennedy’s advocacy to remove certain additives from food.

In 2013, for instance, she started a Change.org petition against Kraft to remove the artificial food dyes Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 from their macaroni and cheese products. The company removed the dyes from their boxes containing Spongebob Squarepants and Halloween-shaped pasta, according to CNN. She also convinced Chick-fil-A to switch to antibiotic-free chicken in 2014.

"It’s been mere months since he took office, and he's already convinced over half of the food industry to start removing artificial food dyes," Hari said. "He's called for the review of the nutritional guidelines of infant formula to be updated.

"He also is putting highlights on how the medical industrial system is failing the American public — the fact that we spend more on health care than any other nation and we have the worst health outcomes — and it's creating an awakening within people," she said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who are the MAHA moms? They're feeling heard by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Reporting by Erin Mansfield and Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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