Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s aggressive anti-vaccine agenda has hit a political wall as Republican leaders realize their positions are deeply unpopular with voters. Kennedy's January move to slash the CDC's childhood vaccine schedule from 17 to 11 immunizations—aligning with Denmark's recommendations—was just the beginning of his assault on public health policy.

Despite Kennedy's efforts, medical experts widely criticized these changes as dangerous, and his most ardent anti-vaccine supporters want far more. At a recent MAHA Institute event, prominent conspiracy theorists like Del Bigtree and Children's Health Defense CEO Mary Holland promoted baseless claims that vaccines cause autism and that COVID-19 vaccines are deadly. The six-hour event featured false narratives about a nonexistent "Massive Epidemic of Vaccine Injury" branded as "Mevi."

Trump administration polling data reveals the political reality Kennedy's allies ignore. The president's top pollster, Tony Fabrizio, found that vaccine skepticism is "rejected by most voters" and that opposing vaccine requirements is "politically risky." His December memo warned politicians that supporting elimination of vaccine recommendations "will pay a price in the election." The administration appears to be scaling back Kennedy's most extreme proposals as they confront the electoral consequences of promoting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.