Fury is erupting on the right after the Trump administration approved a new COVID-19 vaccine, igniting backlash from MAGA loyalists.
Over the weekend, pharmaceutical giant Moderna announced that its latest shot, mNEXSPIKE®, had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The vaccine is intended for adults 65 and older, and for people 12 and up with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk from COVID-19.
“We announced today that the U.S. FDA has approved mNEXSPIKE®, a new vaccine against COVID-19,” the company said in a press release.
That was enough to spark a wave of outrage across MAGA-aligned social media — including from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a close Trump ally. She blasted the FDA’s decision on X, saying: “Not MAHA at all!!!” — a nod to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s slogan, “Make America Healthy Again.” She followed it with a blunt: “Unreal.”
Others joined in fast.
Dave Benner, a self-described “liberty zealot,” called for the agency to be completely dismantled: “The FDA must be abolished. It cannot be reformed.”
Another user, @SeanALarabee, questioned the approval process entirely: “They expect us to believe that they have had sufficient clinical trials to approve it a safe and effective? Not a friggin chance.”
He added: “The only way they have been able to approve this is under the emergency protocols established during the early discovery of COVID-19 which no longer can legally be applied, can they?”
Even Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, was pulled into the mess after a popular account asked it to explain the vaccine’s safety to Greene. The chatbot stuck to the government’s official line, saying the shot had mild side effects and showed no serious safety issues during testing.
“The COVID-19 vaccine, including mNEXSPIKE, has side effects like soreness or fatigue, which are usually mild and short-lived,” Grok said, citing data from the CDC and WHO.
It also claimed that COVID-19 itself poses greater risks, especially to older adults and people with medical conditions.
But none of that has convinced the MAGA base — and many see this as a betrayal coming from Trump’s own administration.
