Trump threatened with ‘political consequences’ by his own supporters as dozens of doctors, lawmakers and advocates demand COVID vaccine ban
More than a hundred doctors, nurses, political figures and advocates have urged President Donald Trump to ban mRNA COVID vaccines.
In a letter signed by figures including Tucker Carlson, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and former Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene, the individuals called for an immediate suspension of the use of all mRNA-based technology, which includes the COVID and newly approved mRNA flu vaccines.
In the document, which was also sent to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, the signatories said the president had ‘failed’ to take action on mRNA vaccines despite what they claimed was ‘evidence [of] the harm of this technology.’
Just weeks before midterm elections, they also threatened that if the administration continues to ‘ignore our central issue of removing the mRNA platform, the MAHA and health freedom movements will withdraw their support of you, and you will face the political consequences.’
The letter was organized by the Americans for Health Freedom group, based in Texas, which campaigns against mRNA-based technologies and COVID shots.
In a response, a spokeswoman for HHS said in a statement to the Daily Mail: ‘Secretary Kennedy has been clear that he believes mRNA products warrant heightened scientific scrutiny.
‘HHS continues to support mRNA research where the science shows promise, including for hard-to-treat cancers.
‘At the same time, HHS wound down investments in mRNA vaccines for upper respiratory viruses because the technology does not effectively protect against infection from rapidly mutating viruses such as COVID and flu.’
Trump is pictured above speaking during a dinner in the Rose Garden of the White House on September 17, 2026
The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment.
Major clinical trials showed that COVID vaccines are safe and effective at preventing hospitalization or death from the virus and major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Medical Association support COVID vaccination.
This year, the FDA approved the new COVID booster vaccines for adults ages 65 years and over and those with at least one condition putting them at higher risk of a serious infection. During last year’s virus season, more than 50 million Americans got COVID vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates, including seven million children.
Dr Mary Talley Bowden, an ear, nose and throat expert and founding member of Americans for Health Freedom, organized the letter to the White House and HHS.
She claimed that Greene, who she knew through her activist work, had texted her when she heard about the letter, saying: ‘ADD MY NAME!!!’
Bowden also claimed she received a text from Carlson after he heard about the letter, writing: ‘I would be honored to sign.’
The Daily Mail has contacted both Carlson and Greene for comment.
Signatories also included Dr Aseem Malhotra, a physician who has worked closely with RFK Jr on developing the Trump administration’s MAHA agenda and has previously called for bans on COVID vaccines.
In the letter, Americans for Health Freedom said that the removal of mRNA shots was a centerpiece of the MAHA agenda.
They added that, if the vaccines were not banned, pregnant women and children were being put at risk by the continued use of COVID shots.
The CDC says that pregnant women and very young children are at higher risk from COVID because they have weaker immune systems.
The above shows the proportion of adults ages 18 years and over who got a COVID vaccine for last year’s respiratory virus season
The above shows the proportion of children who received a COVID vaccine during last year’s respiratory virus season
In the letter, the group included seven key points that they demanded action on from the Trump administration.
These included the appointment of Dr Erica Schwartz to lead the CDC, who said in a Senate hearing in July that mRNA technology was safe and effective, and the approval of new mRNA COVID shots for the winter flu season.
Authors of the letter raised concern over the approval of the new mRNA flu shot, which they claim ‘was not tested against a true placebo, lacks long-term safety data and did not measure hospitalization or death.’
The group also cited issue over an up to $1.24 billion HHS contract for Pfizer ‘for future mRNA products, including products for children.’
In an interview, Bowden, who said she believed in vaccines before the COVID vaccine rollout, described the letter as her group’s ‘Hail Mary.’
‘The administration has continued to brush this issue under the rug. But I have seen hundreds of patients with injuries due to COVID vaccines,’ she said.
‘I am open to using mRNA for cancer research. You can tolerate moderate risk there because, if you don’t do anything, cancer is going to kill someone.
‘But COVID is a minor illness at this point. I can’t remember the last time I was worried about a COVID patient.’
Trump developed mRNA COVID vaccines during his first term in Operation Warp Speed, which cost an estimated $12.4 billion.
Analyses have credited the shots with saving more than 14.4 million lives worldwide, including three million in the US, and for getting society back to normal faster during the pandemic.
But controversy erupted over the shots after the CDC said there was an association between the vaccines and the rare side effects of myocarditis, which causes inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, inflammation of the lining around the heart.
Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene signed the letter calling for a ban on COVID vaccines
Thousands of Americans, including teachers, airline staff and sanitation workers, were also fired after they refused to get the vaccines when they became mandated by some employers.
There was also mounting backlash after US public health officials continued to recommend booster doses to school-age children and young adults, despite data showing the groups were at a vanishingly low risk of hospitalization or death from the virus.
Virtually all COVID vaccines administered in the US are now mRNA vaccines. Last month, the FDA also approved the country’s first-ever mRNA flu vaccine for use during this year’s respiratory virus season.
The Trump administration has repeatedly reviewed vaccination policy in the US during the president’s second term, including that for COVID vaccines.
In May last year, RFK Jr said the CDC would no longer recommend COVID vaccines for healthy children and healthy pregnant women.
Three months later, the FDA approved the updated COVID shot for the 2025-2026 winter virus season, but said they should only be used in people over 65 and those with at least one underlying condition that puts them at severe risk from the virus.
The CDC says that adults over 65 are at higher risk from COVID and other viruses because they have a weaker immune system.
In August, Trump signed an executive order slashing the number of vaccines on the CDC’s children’s inoculation schedule from 17 to 11, and moved the COVID shot to shared decision-making, meaning parents should consult their doctors about whether to inoculate their children against the condition.
Virtually all COVID vaccines administered in the US are now mRNA vaccines (stock image)
The letter also criticized this decision for reducing the number of vaccines while elevating pneumococcal and HPV shots into a ‘universal core recommendation’ and adopting shared decision-making, which the authors called constitutionally corrosive.
Last week, RFK Jr told attendees at an event for Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group that he founded, in Washington DC, that they had a ‘friend in the White House.’
Bowden, who is currently fighting for her medical license in her home-state of Texas after she prescribed ivermectin, a deworming drug, to a patient to treat COVID, said she and her children had received all required vaccines until she became concerned by the COVID vaccine rollout. Neither she nor her children received a COVID vaccine.
She said: ‘I am pro data transparency. What I didn’t realize prior to the pandemic is that none of the vaccines have been tested like the treatments for other diseases have been tested.
‘I continue to see patients on a daily basis in my office who have been harmed by these COVID shots. I’ve never seen anything like it in my career.
‘In the first two years following the rollout of the [COVID] shots, hundreds of patients came to see me with injuries that were consistent [with vaccine injuries].
‘The most frequent condition I am seeing is POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which is basically when blood pressure drops erratically or the pulse jumps erratically with no trigger, it’s very debilitating.
‘I have seen patients who have a hard time functioning, I see strange neuropathy, I see severe localized pain. I see tremors. That’s very common. I’m thinking of this one patient who’s a marathon runner with a left arm that won’t stop shaking.’
