Ancient miasma theory may help explain Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine moves

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1024x780+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fae%2F3c%2F6a4c565941d19ba05c3675aaec15%2Fgettyimages-2216571317.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1024x780+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fae%2F3c%2F6a4c565941d19ba05c3675aaec15%2Fgettyimages-2216571317.jpg" class="img" alt="Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (R) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin Makary walk together at the White House on May 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kennedy was at the White House today to release a new Make America Healthy Again Commission report that blamed the rise in chronic illnesses on ultraprocessed foods, chemical exposures, lifestyle factors and excessive use of prescription drugs." fetchpriority="high"/> Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (R) and Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin Makary on the White Home in Could, when Kennedy launched a Make America Wholesome Once more Fee report that blamed the rise in continual diseases on ultraprocessed meals, chemical exposures, life-style components and extreme use of pharmaceuticals. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photographs North America conceal caption

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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photographs North America Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has upended medical analysis and public well being within the U.S. in some ways. One of many concepts that might be influencing his overhaul of federal well being businesses dates again to historic Greece.

The miasma concept is without doubt one of the first concepts that civilization hatched to attempt to clarify why folks get sick.

"It goes again to Hippocrates," says Dr. Howard Markel, an emeritus professor of medical historical past from the College of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "He wrote in a e book known as Epidemics, that epidemics got here from some sort of air pollution – some air pollution of the ambiance, of the air that we breathe. And therefore we obtained horrible infectious illnesses."

This concept that, in essence, unhealthy air brought on sickness was later championed by many others, together with Florence Nightingale. It additionally led to some issues that did assist battle illnesses, like cleansing up sewage.

However then got here the germ concept — one in all humanity's large eureka moments. Scientists like Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch found it wasn't some mysterious stench within the air from rotting rubbish that unfold illnesses. As a substitute, it was dwelling microscopic entities.

"They found what we all know as germs – microbes," says Melanie Kiechle, a historian at Virginia Tech. "Micro organism and viruses and different microscopic supplies have been really what brought on sickness and in addition defined the unfold of sickness from one individual to a different. So miasma concept is debunked, basically."

The invention of germs led to breakthroughs like antibiotics and vaccines.

However in a e book Kennedy printed about 4 years in the past, The Actual Anthony Fauci: Invoice Gates, Large Pharma, and the World Struggle on Democracy and Public Well being, the now- well being secretary harkens again to the miasma concept.

"Miasma concept emphasizes stopping illness by fortifying the immune system via vitamin and decreasing exposures to environmental toxins and stresses," Kennedy writes.

However specialists say one drawback is how Kennedy defines miasma concept.

"I'll categorically say that miasma concept, as historians of drugs and science perceive it, will not be what he's saying it's, interval," says Nancy Tomes, a historian of germ concept at Stoney Brook College, who wrote The Gospel of Germs: Males, Ladies and the Microbe in American Life.

However Kennedy's take could assist clarify a few of his insurance policies, particularly about vaccines.

"The miasma concept is the notion that there are environmental poisons, not essentially rotting natural matter," says Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine skilled on the College of Pennsylvania. "For him, these environmental poisons are electromagnetic radiation, pesticides, vaccines. Vaccines are, for him, a modern-day miasma."

And that is harmful, many specialists say.

"Can stress, air air pollution, different issues, make infections worse? Sure. However the reason for infections is a microorganism," says Dr. Tina Tan, who heads the Infectious Illness Society of America. "It is the microorganisms which can be making folks sick."

And vaccines have clearly been proven to securely and successfully shield folks in opposition to harmful microorganisms, Tan and others say.

"He is attempting to offer this false veneer of intellectualism by saying, 'Oh, the miasma concept,'" says Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being Heart for Well being Safety. "This all simply obfuscation to assist his concept that vaccines usually are not precious."

However another observers argue that Kennedy's concepts concerning the miasma and germ theories aren't essentially mutually unique.

"The actual debate right here is whether or not we are able to resolve public well being issues by growing therapies like vaccines, antibiotics, or different medication? Or whether or not we'll resolve these issues by strengthening folks's immune programs via more healthy habits?" says Gregg Girvan, a resident fellow on the Basis for Analysis on Equal Alternative, a Washington assume tank. "And my response is, 'Why can we not acknowledge that there's reality in each positions?'"