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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, August 4, 2025

Vaccines Are Not Public Health: An Open Message to RFK Jr.

By Richard Z. Cheng, M.D., Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service


Editorial Note

With the recent appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, a historic opportunity emerges to redefine public health policy. In this open message, OMNS Editor-in-Chief Richard Z. Cheng, M.D., Ph.D., urges Secretary Kennedy to move beyond the vaccine-centric paradigm and embrace a terrain-based approach rooted in immune resilience, nutritional sufficiency, detoxification, and metabolic health. In integrative and orthomolecular medicine, the "terrain" refers to the body's internal biochemical environment-its nutrient status, redox balance, metabolic function, and immune readiness. Strengthening this terrain is the foundation of lasting, non-pharmaceutical health.

🔑 Key Points at a Glance

  • 🧠 The vaccine debate is a strategic trap, keeping reformers locked in a narrow, pharma-defined battlefield. As Sun Tzu warns:

    "To win without fighting is best. Avoid what is strong. Strike what is weak."
  • 💉 Vaccine-centric policies are inherently reactive-they will always lag behind emerging pathogens.
  • 🌿 Terrain-based strategies, rooted in natural biochemistry, are proactive-offering universal, non-specific, immediate protection through optimized innate immunity.
  • 🩺 Nutritional sufficiency, detoxification, and metabolic health are the real foundations of immune resilience.
  • ⚠️ Vaccine safety advocacy alone is not enough-it keeps us stuck inside the pharmaceutical paradigm.
  • 🧰 Vaccines are one tool-not the entire toolbox of public health.
  • 🦠 COVID-19 revealed the failure of a reactive model, and the suppression of safe, effective orthomolecular therapies.
  • 📣 Call to Secretary Kennedy: Step off pharma's battlefield. Lead the public to higher ground-resilient, terrain-based health.

A Pivotal Moment for Public Health

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) marks a rare and historic opportunity to reshape American and global public health. For decades, Kennedy has championed vaccine safety, exposed regulatory corruption, and advocated for medical freedom.

As a clinician and long-time advocate of orthomolecular and nutrition-based medicine, I applaud his courage. But now, standing at the helm of the system he once critiqued, the challenge-and opportunity-is far greater.

The focus must shift.

The vaccine safety debate is not enough. Vaccines were never the foundation of public health- and they should not become its future.


The Trap: Vaccine-Centric Thinking

The current model is narrow, reactive, and dependent on an endless pipeline of pathogen-specific products. It does not build health, nor does it address the root question:

Why are people so vulnerable to infections in the first place?

By staying within the "safe vaccine" framework, even reformers risk reinforcing the flawed idea that health comes from a syringe. That is not prevention. That is dependency.

"He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious." - Sun Tzu

It is time to fight where we are strongest-on the terrain of true, lasting health.


The Real Foundation of Immunity: The Terrain Approach

Immunity is not built in a lab-it is built from the inside out. In terrain-based medicine, the terrain refers to the body's internal biochemical environment: its nutritional status, detoxification capacity, mitochondrial function, redox balance, and immune readiness. When this terrain is strong, infections rarely take hold. When it is compromised, even minor pathogens can trigger severe disease.

Key components include:

  • Micronutrient sufficiency - Deficiencies in vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, selenium, and magnesium are widespread and directly impair immune defense (1-10).
  • Low-carb, anti-inflammatory diet - Ultra-processed, high-carbohydrate foods disrupt metabolic balance and promote inflammation. A nutrient-dense, low-carb diet helps restore insulin sensitivity and immune regulation (11-16).
  • Detoxification - Heavy metals, pesticides, and endocrine disruptors weaken mitochondrial and immune function. Supporting detoxification and reducing toxic burden is essential (17-20).
  • Lifestyle optimization - Sleep, stress management, circadian rhythm, and physical activity profoundly influence immunity (21).
  • Orthomolecular therapy - High-dose vitamin C and D, among others, have been used successfully to treat a wide range of infections, including viral pneumonia (5,22,23).

Vaccines as One Tool-Not the Whole Toolbox

Vaccines have a place-but they must never be the entire strategy. Their pathogen-specific, lag-time-dependent nature makes them fundamentally limited.

In contrast, terrain-based interventions, grounded in natural biochemistry, are universally protective, require no waiting, and carry minimal risk.

The real question should be:

Can the human body recover naturally if given proper support?

In most cases, the answer is yes.


The Failure of Reactionary Policy

Vaccines are inherently reactionary. Development, testing, and deployment all take time-often too much time. COVID-19 proved this.

"Speed is the essence of war." - Sun Tzu

By the time vaccines were widely available, the virus had already mutated and spread. Meanwhile, those with strong innate immunity-particularly high vitamin D levels and metabolic health-fared far better (10,24).

Yet public health ignored terrain and censored clinicians using vitamin C, D, and zinc. The result? Preventable deaths.

COVID-19 Should Have Been a Wake-Up Call

From the earliest data, it was clear:

Metabolic dysfunction, low vitamin D, and chronic inflammation were key risk factors (8,9,25).

Yet governments pushed masks, lockdowns, and experimental vaccines-while suppressing orthomolecular medicine.

Many clinicians-and myself included-published early alerts calling for orthomolecular interventions, only to face censorship and intimidation despite evidence-based intentions (7,26,27).

These therapies were-and remain-safe, effective, and scalable. The failure to deploy them was not just oversight.

It was public health malpractice.


A Call to Secretary Kennedy and HHS

Mr. Kennedy, your appointment is not just symbolic-it's strategic.

Don't stop at safer vaccines. Build a stronger population.

Please consider these actions:

  1. Integrate nutritional and metabolic therapies into infectious disease policy.
  2. Launching national campaigns to correct widespread vitamin D and micronutrient deficiencies.
  3. Fund clinical trials comparing vaccine-based vs. terrain-based strategies.
  4. Educate the public in immune literacy, not pharmaceutical dependency.

Conclusion: Rebuilding Health from the Inside Out

Mr. Kennedy, you have the courage, the credibility, and now the office to lead a real revolution in public health.

  • Don't just fix broken systems. Build a new one.
  • Don't just make vaccines safer. Make people stronger.
  • Don't just win debates. Win the future.

"The greatest victory is that which requires no battle." - Sun Tzu

This is not just a better strategy-

It is the future of health.


About the Author

Richard Z. Cheng, M.D., Ph.D. - Editor-in-Chief, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service

Dr. Cheng is a U.S.-based, NIH-trained, board-certified physician specializing in integrative cancer therapy, orthomolecular medicine, and anti-aging medicine. He maintains active practices in both the United States and China.

A Fellow of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and Hall of Fame inductee of the International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine, Dr. Cheng is a leading advocate for nutrition-based, root-cause health strategies.

He serves as an expert reviewer for the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners and co-founded both the China Low Carb Medicine Alliance and the Society of International Metabolic Oncology.

📰 Follow his latest insights: https://substack.com/@rzchengmd


References

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2. Ali N. Role of vitamin D in preventing of COVID-19 infection, progression and severity. J Infect Public Health. 2020 Oct;13(10):1373-80.

3. Grant WB, Baggerly CA, Lahore H. Reply: "Vitamin D Supplementation in Influenza and COVID-19 Infections. Comment on: Evidence That Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths Nutrients 2020, 12(4), 988." Nutrients. 2020 June 1;12(6):1620.

4. Grant WB, Wimalawansa SJ, Pludowski P, Cheng RZ. Vitamin D: Evidence-Based Health Benefits and Recommendations for Population Guidelines. Nutrients. 2025 Jan;17(2):277.

5. Carr AC, Maggini S. Vitamin C and Immune Function. Nutrients. 2017 Nov 3;9(11):1211.

6. Gombart AF, Pierre A, Maggini S. A Review of Micronutrients and the Immune System-Working in Harmony to Reduce the Risk of Infection. Nutrients. 2020 Jan;12(1):236.

7. Cheng, Richard Z. Can early and high intravenous dose of vitamin C prevent and treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? Medicine in Drug Discovery. 2020 Mar 1;5:100028.

8. Brugliera L, Spina A, Castellazzi P, Cimino P, Arcuri P, Negro A, et al. Nutritional management of COVID-19 patients in a rehabilitation unit. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2020 June;74(6):860-3.

9. Mitchell F. Vitamin-D and COVID-19: do deficient risk a poorer outcome? Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2020 July;8(7):570.

10. Fernández-Quintela A, Milton-Laskibar I, Trepiana J, Gómez-Zorita S, Kajarabille N, Léniz A, et al. Key Aspects in Nutritional Management of COVID-19 Patients. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2020 Aug;9(8):2589.

11. Spotlight on UPFs: NIH explores link between ultra-processed foods and heart disease | NHLBI, NIH [Internet]. 2025 [cited 2025 July 24]. Available from: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2025/spotlight-upfs-nih-explores-link-between-ultra-processed-foods-and-heart-disease

12. Cordain L, Eaton SB, Sebastian A, Mann N, Lindeberg S, Watkins BA, et al. Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Feb;81(2):341-54.

13. Rondinella D, Raoul PC, Valeriani E, Venturini I, Cintoni M, Severino A, et al. The Detrimental Impact of Ultra-Processed Foods on the Human Gut Microbiome and Gut Barrier. Nutrients. 2025 Feb 28;17(5):859.

14. Tristan Asensi M, Napoletano A, Sofi F, Dinu M. Low-Grade Inflammation and Ultra-Processed Foods Consumption: A Review. Nutrients. 2023 Mar 22;15(6):1546.

15. Lane MM, Gamage E, Du S, Ashtree DN, McGuinness AJ, Gauci S, et al. Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ. 2024 Feb 28;384:e077310.

16. Sawalha K, Tripathi V, Alkhatib D, Alalawi L, Mahmood A, Alexander T. Our Hidden Enemy: Ultra-Processed Foods, Inflammation, and the Battle for Heart Health. Cureus. 2023 Oct;15(10):e47484.

17. Zheng K, Zeng Z, Tian Q, Huang J, Zhong Q, Huo X. Epidemiological evidence for the effect of environmental heavy metal exposure on the immune system in children. Sci Total Environ. 2023 Apr 10;868:161691.

18. Jomova K, Alomar SY, Nepovimova E, Kuca K, Valko M. Heavy metals: toxicity and human health effects. Arch Toxicol. 2025 Jan;99(1):153-209.

19. Adegoke EO, Rahman MS, Park YJ, Kim YJ, Pang MG. Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals and Infectious Diseases: From Endocrine Disruption to Immunosuppression. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Apr 11;22(8):3939.

20. Marroqui L, Tudurí E, Alonso-Magdalena P, Quesada I, Nadal Á, Dos Santos RS. Mitochondria as target of endocrine-disrupting chemicals: implications for type 2 diabetes. J Endocrinol. 2018 Nov 1;239(2):R27-45.

21. Irwin MR. Why sleep is important for health: a psychoneuroimmunology perspective. Annu Rev Psychol. 2015 Jan 3;66:143-72.

22. Shanghai Government Officially Recommends Vitamin C for COVID-19 [Internet]. [cited 2020 Aug 3]. Available from: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n16.shtml

23. Jonathan. High Dose Vitamin C and Influenza: A Case Report [Internet]. ISOM. [cited 2025 July 24]. Available from: https://isom.ca/article/high-dose-vitamin-c-influenza-case-report/

24. Wimalawansa SJ. Unlocking insights: Navigating COVID-19 challenges and Emulating future pandemic Resilience strategies with strengthening natural immunity. Heliyon. 2024 Aug 15;10(15):e34691.

25. Biesalski HK. Vitamin D deficiency and co-morbidities in COVID-19 patients - A fatal relationship? NFS J. 2020 Aug;20:10-21.

26. Cheng RZ. From Censorship to Recognition: Orthomolecular Medicine Going Mainstream [Internet]. From Censorship to Recognition: Orthomolecular Medicine Going Mainstream. 2025. Available from: https://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v21n40.shtml

27. Richard Z. Cheng. Protected Population Immunity, Not A Vaccine, Is The Way To Stop Covid-19 Pandemic. J Clin Immunol Immunother. 2020 June 30;6(2):1-4.



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