MAHA’s Gone Viral. Can Science?

Millions of Americans are being fed misinformation on social media that’s been elevated by the Trump administration. A counter movement to RFK Jr. is emerging. Will it stick?

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Aaron M. Sprecher/AP

In some ways, Lauren Hughes is a classic “momfluencer”: She is a bubbly mother of three who sells mugs with slogans like “I need this FORKING coffee” and makes videos for her 548,000 followers about how she weaned her twins off pacifiers.

In other ways, she is not.

A pediatrician whose day job is running the medical practice she founded in Kansas City, Kansas, Hughes is offering something not often associated with social media’s health influencers: evidence-based information. Her Instagram account’s pinned post is a flowchart on how to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations on the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.