Kennedy Planning $20 Million HHS ‘Take Back Your Health’ Ad Campaign
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to launch a sweeping, four-year public relations campaign called “Take Back Your Health” that could cost tens of millions of dollars, according to a document obtained by NBC News. The initiative comes as Kennedy is conducting sweeping budget cuts that could eliminate 10,000 jobs and several HHS divisions, including global health and domestic HIV prevention.
The document, a request for proposals, calls for public relations firms to bid to run the campaign. The winning firm would employ up to 30 people to manage the campaign and oversee the purchase of up to three ads a day on five major television networks.
The total dollar amount for the campaign is not listed in the document. But a person familiar with the campaign said that labor costs are expected to be at least $20 million and estimated that television and digital ad purchases could cost tens of millions over the next four years.
An HHS official praised the initiative. The campaign will seek to address Americans’ chronic health problems by inspiring them to “take control of their health” and pledge to adopt healthier habits like eating well and exercising, according to the document. The campaign will also create a fitness challenge expanding the Presidents’ Youth Fitness program to adults.
RFK Jr. Isn’t Staying in His Lane. Trump Is Thrilled.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fast becoming the most prominent face of the Trump administration’s domestic agenda, taking on a portfolio well beyond the role of a traditional Health secretary. And the White House is thrilled. Senior aides believe Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” loyalists helped deliver the popular vote for President Donald Trump last November — and that keeping them in the GOP tent will be crucial to ensuring the party holds onto power come the midterms, according to four Trump aides and advisers granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking.
That’s why they’re more than happy to let the presidential candidate-turned-top health official exert influence over an expanding array of key policy priorities across the government, even if it ruffles a few feathers among officials in other agencies who feel Kennedy is encroaching on their turf.
“Midterm success, in a large way, depends on MAHA success,” said one Trump adviser who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “This is about President Trump, and this is about the House and the Senate.”
FDA Appears to Be Slow-Walking Vaccine Approvals
Former government health officials fear the Trump administration is moving to slow-walk vaccine approvals, including by imposing new regulatory hurdles on drugmakers, such as changing the requirements for approval or seeking additional clinical trial data.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed Monday it was requiring drugmaker Novavax to run another clinical trial as part of the approval process for its COVID-19 vaccine, which has been available under emergency use authorization since 2022. Dr. Marty Makary, the FDA’s commissioner, said the company is asking the agency to approve “a new product” based on old data.
Novavax’s shot uses traditional protein-based vaccine technology and is the only alternative to the mRNA shots from Pfizer and Moderna. The drugmaker’s application to the FDA was based on a 30,000-person randomized clinical trial conducted in 2021 in the U.S. and Mexico. The agency missed an April 1 deadline decision, prompting concerns among investors that it wouldn’t be approved.
On Saturday, Makary suggested in a post on X that Novavax was seeking approval for a “new” vaccine because the strain used in its trial has since been updated to target a more recent COVID-19 variant called JN.1.
US CDC Cancels Science Group Workshop on Preventing Human Bird Flu Infections
U.S. News and World Report reported:
The National Academy of Sciences has canceled a workshop on preventing human bird flu infections after being told to stop work on the event by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to an email sent to one of the workshop presenters and seen by Reuters. Bird flu has infected 70 people, most of them farmworkers, over the past year as it has spread aggressively among cattle herds and poultry flocks.
Experts, including CDC officials during the previous administration of President Joe Biden, warned that further spread of the virus could allow it to adapt in ways that raise the risk it could more easily infect people. The Department of Health and Human Services, which contains CDC, did not respond to a request for comment on the workshop cancellation.
The administration of President Donald Trump has said it is aggressively working to contain bird flu with measures like heightened biosecurity on farms. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop was scheduled for June 26 and 27 and expected to discuss best practices for the use of personal protective equipment for people at heightened risk of bird flu, like farmworkers and veterinarians.
Health of Mothers and Children at Risk From Loss of CDC Data Program, Expert Says
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reported:
The Trump administration recently eliminated a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program that collected data on pregnant and postpartum women and young children and laid off its team and other workers in the Division of Reproductive Health. Experts quoted in an April 24 News from the States story say that the loss of this resource will harm the health of mothers and young children.
The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, or PRAMS, started in 1987, is the only national survey dataset dedicated to pregnancy and the postpartum period. Public health researchers and practitioners have used it, for example, to identify communities with low breastfeeding rates and interventions that can prevent domestic violence.
“I can’t overemphasize what an important dataset this is and how unique it is to really show national trends and help us try to understand how to optimize the health of moms and young kids,” Rita Hamad, associate professor of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in the article. Hamad has used the dataset to examine questions such as how paid family leave policies affect rates of postpartum depression.
