The News
A White House health adviser on Friday slammed pediatricians’ recommendation of weight loss drugs to treat obesity among children.
Calley Means, a central figure in US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, said drugs like Ozempic shouldn’t be the “first line of defense for 12-year-olds” in treating obesity before dietary interventions — and shouldn’t be funded by government programs.
“Ozempic is being pushed on American children,” Means said at the Semafor World Economy Summit.
The Food and Drug Administration has not approved the specific use of Ozempic for children, but it has approved Wegovy — which is made by the same company and contains the same active ingredient — for patients 12 years and older. Whether or not Medicaid covers Wegovy depends on state laws.
The American Academy of Pediatrics released guidelines in 2023 recommending physicians offer the medication to adolescents 12 years and older for obesity treatment, among other recommendations. The thrust of the guidelines, CBS News reported, was that “waiting doesn’t work” and that “children struggling with obesity should be evaluated and treated early and aggressively, including with medications for kids as young as 12 and surgery for those as young as 13.”
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Means, a key figure in the White House’s MAHA Commission, has been a vocal critic of the food and health care industries, calling them fundamental reasons for rising rates of chronic disease, and slamming agencies like the Health and Human Services for failing to promote solutions that address the underlying causes.
He’s also been one of the architects of the MAHA movement, which has been skeptical of weight loss drugs, vaccines, food dyes, and seed oils, citing some claims that scientists and public health experts have raised concerns about.
This story has been updated to clarify the import of the American Academy of Pediatrics report.
The Semafor View
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