The Trump-aligned media company Newsmax has been trying to gin up paid subscriptions for its newsletter business by telling its older-leaning audience that “the worst thing” they could do regarding the coronavirus outbreak is to “get a vaccine when it becomes available” because vaccines are supposedly “a scam.”

Newsmax is a right-wing media company that operates a website, cable news channel (Newsmax TV), and subscription publications. It’s led by CEO Christopher Ruddy, a friend and adviser to President Donald Trump. Newsmax TV recently debuted an evening program featuring notorious liar and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and former Republican National Committee deputy communications director Lyndsay Keith. The network counts Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz as a contributor and regularly features Trump campaign surrogates.

The Florida-based company also operates Newsmax Health, which purportedly offers readers “the latest health and medical news and advice from a group of renowned medical doctors.” Newsmax Health states that 87% of its opt-in newsletter subscribers are age 55 and over; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that older adults are one of the main groups of people who are “at higher risk of getting very sick from” COVID-19.

One of Newsmax Health’s newsletters is Health Radar, which claims to feature "guest medical experts [who] offer ways to cope with health issues that plague readers and their loved ones, from cancer to memory loss, arthritis, heart disease, depression, and more.”

An information page for Health Radar tells potential subscribers: “Quite frankly, what your average medical doctor doesn't know about your health could literally get you killed. … Doctors are so busy these days they just don't have time to keep up with the latest treatments and advancements in medicine.”

Newsmax has been attempting to make money by spreading dubious information about the coronavirus. It sent a March 7 email to its subscriber list with the subject line “What The CDC Won’t Tell You About Coronavirus” and promised readers advice on “how to survive the Coronavirus outbreak.” In the email, Newsmax explicitly advises people against getting a coronavirus vaccine once it becomes available, writing (emphasis removed):