The MAHA Coalition Is Falling Apart

By David Wallace-Wells

It’s been a bumpy year for public health. Even so, last week’s precedent-breaking news that the F.D.A. wouldn’t even bother to consider Moderna’s new mRNA flu vaccine for approval felt like a dark revelation.

Hundreds of millions of dollars had been invested to develop the shot. The clinical trial had been conducted according to terms backed by the agency in 2024, and last year the company reported that the new vaccine showed 26.6 percent greater efficacy than the standard flu shot, which is of course the point of these things.

But none of that seemed to matter, at least at first. The official explanation for the decision didn’t pass muster, as the F.D.A. commissioner, Marty Makary, was perhaps acknowledging when he suggested, in response to a public backlash, that the F.D.A. might eventually approve the vaccine — and........

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