As US Health Secretary RFK Jr. visits Idaho, Gov. Little signs MAHA proclamation

Standing next to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Wednesday declared next month as “Keep Idaho Healthy Month.”

Kennedy, also known as RFK Jr., called Idaho the “home of medical freedom.” He is visiting Idaho to talk with state officials about work to promote his movement called Make America Health Again, or MAHA, and to celebrate Idaho’s progress on it, officials for the Idaho governor’s office said.

“Idaho proudly leads the nation in ushering in the” MAHA movement, says Little’s proclamation, which declares August 2025 as “Keep Idaho Healthy Month.”

Little said Idaho had embraced the movement before it even had a name. He touted recent new laws that established a broad right to medical freedom that bans requirements for vaccines or other medical interventions, and prompted Idaho to request permission from the federal government to ban soda and candy from a food assistance program.

MAHA is “kind of in our ethos in Idaho, before we had a name to it. And you get credit for the name,” Little said of Kennedy.

“To me, it’s the right thing to do for one … person,” the governor said. “It’s even more the right thing to do for their families. And I think the president and the secretary have talked about it’s a patriotic duty to do for the whole country.”

Officials did not take questions from journalists at the event.

Kennedy and Little will also meet with tribal leaders about how the Trump administration and Idaho are addressing mental health needs on Native American reservations, governor’s office officials say.

Kennedy critiques pandemic control measures, praises Idaho

For years, Kennedy has doubted the safety of vaccines. The Trump administration recently restricted vaccines through a series of regulatory decisions in ways that sometimes counter established scientific consensus, the Associated Press reported.

In brief remarks in the Idaho governor’s office, Kennedy criticized COVID pandemic control measures during the Biden administration, before shifting to the need to address chronic illnesses in America.

But he praised Little’s actions in Idaho.

“Idaho did better than any other state in preserving those essential American freedoms. And a lot of that was because of the leadership of Gov. Little,” Kennedy said.

During the COVID pandemic, Little temporarily limited public gatherings and closed some businesses. But months later, in 2020, he ended the order and refused calls for a statewide mask mandate.

This year, Little signed into law a bill banning mask mandates to combat infectious disease by governments and schools.

Minutes before Kennedy and Little spoke in the governor’s ceremonial office, protestors standing on the front steps of the Idaho State Capitol Building chanted “Vaccines save lives.”

As Little read his new proclamation, faint shouts from protestors outside his office carried through the room. After the event, protestors chanted: “Hey, hey, RFK. How many kids did you kill today?”