Vax-Fearing MAHA Women Reveal Why They Line Up for Botox
“I try not to inject anything into my body,” one MAHA woman said before declaring her love of Botox.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
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Some women in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement who avoid vaccines have turned to a different injectable: Botox.
The movement, which champions “natural” and “clean” health solutions, now faces a striking contradiction as supporters eagerly embrace a cosmetic toxin from the very pharmaceutical industry they otherwise oppose.
In a profile by The Cut, women who follow the movement championed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and who have used or continue to use Botox explained how they justify the cosmetic injections despite their health beliefs.
Women who are part of the anti-vaccine MAHA movement are championing Botox injections.
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“I try not to inject anything into my body,” Krisdee Clark, 47, told the magazine, echoing the anti-vaccine stance central to the MAHA movement and shaped by RFK Jr.’s policies and rhetoric.
Clark, who turned to MAHA after a stage-three breast cancer diagnosis, became “almost obsessive” about avoiding products with toxic cosmetic ingredients—yet Botox remains her exception.
“I love Botox and use it periodically to keep a youthful look,” Clark said, adding that she believes Botox “has been used medically and cosmetically and has so far been transparent.”
The MAHA movement is largely anti-vaxx.
Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag
Botox, the most widely known and used brand of botulinum toxin injections, contains a chemical sometimes nicknamed “miracle poison” that works by blocking nerve signals to muscles, temporarily weakening them. This relaxes facial muscles and smooths out fine lines while helping prevent new wrinkles from forming.
“Humans are not great at dealing with the concept of risk, and for whatever reason, vaccines have become politicized in a way that Botox or other medications haven’t,” Hayley Goldblach, an assistant professor of dermatology at Brown University, told The Cut, noting that the discrepancy in views toward the two injectables may stem from vaccines being more “abstract” to understand.
The skepticism Goldblach describes has been a defining feature of Kennedy’s MAHA messaging.
As health secretary, Kennedy has pushed to reduce the recommended childhood vaccine schedule and rewritten long-standing vaccine guidance in ways that give oxygen to a debunked link between vaccines and autism, often targeting women—particularly mothers—urging new parents to do their “own research” and amplifying anxiety around conventional medicine in mom circles.
Though vaccines used in the United States are FDA-approved and backed by extensive research—much like Botox—and both carry the potential for side effects, MAHA follower Alexandra Taylor, 42, told The Cut that she does not see a “contradiction” in choosing one while fearing the other.
“For me, Botox is a personal choice I’ve made with informed consent after understanding the risks,” Taylor said, echoing the sentiment of Clark, who described Botox as “localized, temporary, and optional.”
The Mar-A-Lago face has become popular in MAGA circles.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
That emphasis on personal choice also surfaced in conversations with other MAHA women.
Rose Featherstone, 33, re-emphasized the same principle. Featherstone recalls wrestling with the idea of Botox within MAHA circles and now says she wants to return to an “old, basic, natural” approach to maintaining a youthful appearance despite having used Botox in the past.
“For women, it is very hard to not want to make those choices,” she told The Cut.
Featherstone’s remarks come as plastic surgeons in Washington, D.C., report a surge in requests for the so-called “Mar-a-Lago face,” an aesthetic characterized by plump lips, taut foreheads, and visibly “done” cheeks, particularly among MAGA-aligned clients—a group that surveys show makes up a significant percentage of Kennedy’s movement.
Those who choose not to opt for the “Mar-a-Lago face,” such as Featherstone, say they prefer to seek out “natural remedies.”
Washington DC has seen spikes in requests for the Mar-a-Lago face.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag
Brigid Rasmussen, the former chief of staff to RFK Jr. and former COO of the MAHA Alliance, told the outlet that she believes in regenerative skincare technologies to reverse aging, such as PDRN, peptides, stem cells, and exosomes, which she said “seem much more naturally occurring.”
Yet Dr. Rosa Sigrist, a board-certified radiologist whose research focuses on dermatology, told The Cut that these newer regenerative treatments are not necessarily safer than Botox, noting that their “long-term safety is not as well established,” and that describing them as “natural” is not always accurate.
“We live in a toxic world,” said Rasmussen, who previously criticized “Big Pharma,” yet expressed support for the role of Botox—whose parent company, AbbVie, is a major global biopharmaceutical firm—within the movement.
“Nobody’s ever going to be perfect,” Rasmussen added.