RFK, Jr. Versus AAP - Big Pharma In Action?

More, from The Hill:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5464042-doctors-take-on-rfk-jr-on-back-to-school-covid-vaccines/

Doctors take on RFK Jr. on back-to-school COVID vaccines
By Joseph Choi - August 22, 2025

The medical community is waging a public relations fight against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over COVID-19 vaccines as students head back to school across the U.S.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Wednesday issued more expansive COVID-19 recommendations for children than the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), underscoring the growing breakdown in cooperation between doctors and federal health authorities.

Parents trying to navigate these recommendations face an increasingly complicated array of recommendations.

For children 6 months to 11 years old who are not immunocompromised, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends shared decisionmaking with doctors, effectively leaving it up to parents.

However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month only approved the Moderna COVID-19 shot — the only one on the market — for kids with an underlying condition, complicating access for healthy children.

The AAP guidance, like the CDC, advises shared decisionmaking for most children, but recommends COVID-19 vaccines for additional at-risk groups, including people who have never received a vaccine or who live with others at high risk of severe COVID.

The AAP maintains its own immunization schedule, recommending one or more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for all children over 6 months old.

Ulrich von Andrian, president of the American Association of Immunologists, advised that parents confused by the conflicting messaging consult with a trusted health care professional on how to navigate the guidance.

Kennedy fired an opening salvo in the fight over COVID-19 recommendations earlier this year, when the CDC announced it would no longer recommend the COVID-19 shot for healthy children, citing a lack of clinical data to justify annual immunizations.

Kennedy is a prominent vaccine skeptic and petitioned the FDA in 2021 to revoke the emergency-use authorizations of the COVID-19 vaccines, as thousands of people were dying of the virus.

Routine immunization for other respiratory viruses such as annual influenza are still recommended by the CDC for children, and RSV monoclonal antibodies are recommended for infants between 8 months and 19 months.

Prior to Kennedy taking over Health and Human Services, organizations such as the AAP were typically aligned with the federal government, taking part in meetings discussing immunization recommendations. But when Kennedy gutted the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the AAP chose not to engage in what it called an “illegitimate” meeting this summer.

Other prominent physicians’ groups welcomed the AAP’s guidance.

Von Andrian said his group “is very pleased to see trusted, independent organizations offering evidenced-based vaccine recommendations for patients and physicians to consider.”

“It is critical that the public and health care professionals have access to credible, trustworthy information about immunizations in order to make informed decisions about how to protect themselves and their loved ones,” he added.

In a meeting held this week by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy’s (CIDRAP) Vaccine Integrity Project, expert members of the group discussed what the current scientific literature supported in regard to COVID-19 vaccinations.

“[AAP’s] recommendations are consistent with our literature findings specifically for COVID, that children at highest risk for severe disease and COVID transmission receive the COVID vaccine,” CIDRAP Director Michael Osterholm said in concluding the meeting.

“Other medical societies will be following them in the coming weeks. Americans will have evidence-based immunization recommendations from medical experts for the viruses responsible for tens of thousands of hospitalizations and deaths annually, and they’ll come from clinicians who spend every day caring for these patient populations,” he added.

Supporters of Kennedy’s decision, however, argue that not recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children falls in line with the current evidence and other guidance around the world.

“Since 2022, the World Health Organization has taken the same position Secretary Kennedy took. The Canadian vaccination authority took the same position as Secretary Kennedy. The UK vaccination organizations took the same position as Secretary Kennedy,” noted Monique Yohanan, physician and senior fellow at the conservative nonprofit Independent Women.

The World Health Organization does not recommend routine COVID-19 revaccination for healthy children and adolescents, recommending the shot for all immunocompromised people, and children and adolescents with at least one comorbidity.

“We were the only country in the world recommending this vaccine for healthy kids. So, from my perspective, AAP right now is an outlier with regards to science,” Yohanan added.

Yonahan expressed concern that the discourse over COVID-19 vaccines would bleed into how parents feel about vaccinating against other illnesses, which she believes are more pressing issues.

“I think it’s really important as we get to school season, for parents to revisit — we definitely don’t have enough kids who are vaccinated against the measles,” she said. “We definitely need to focus on the vaccines that are important for community protection.”

In recent years, the U.S. has fallen off the ideal 95 percent vaccine coverage rate for protection against measles. The west Texas region where the measles outbreak was only recently declared over had nearly half of all students exempted from measles vaccinations. *

* The Texas measles outbreak is over, while the very well vaccinated Canadian measles outbreak rages on with many more cases than Texas had.

Follow the money!

AAP's presser announcing its suit against HHS, filing dated Christmas Eve.

https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/2025/nations-pediatricians-go-to-court-over-unlawful-health-funding-cuts/

Nation’s Pediatricians Go to Court Over Unlawful Health Funding Cuts

Lawsuit Challenges Retaliation Against Pediatricians for Defending Evidence-Based Care

Washington, D.C. — The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the nation’s leading organization of primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists, and pediatric surgical specialists with 67,000 members, is suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The AAP is doing so after HHS abruptly cut nearly $12 million in federal public health funding in retaliation because AAP has spoken out against the administration’s actions that have threatened children’s health. Democracy Forward represents AAP in this case.

AAP alleges that HHS, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), retaliated against AAP for its protected speech—including its advocacy for evidence-based vaccine policy—by suddenly terminating seven long-running federal grants.

AAP is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to immediately block the funding cuts and order the government to restore the grants while the case proceeds.

The terminated funding supported critical pediatric public health programs serving communities across the country, including efforts to prevent sudden unexpected infant death, improve early detection of developmental disabilities and birth defects, strengthen pediatric care in rural communities, support adolescents facing substance use and mental health challenges, and improve standards of care for newborns. AAP warns that without immediate court intervention, these programs will end within weeks, staff will be laid off, and children and families nationwide will lose access to crucial child health programs.

“For 95 years, the American Academy of Pediatrics has lived its mission: to optimize the health and well-being of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. We do that through the care pediatricians provide to families every day, through our evidence-based policy, and through our advocacy,” said Mark Del Monte, JD, AAP Chief Executive Officer/Executive Vice President. “The AAP has long enjoyed a strong partnership with the federal government; we need this partnership to advance policies that prioritize children’s health. These vital child health programs fund services like hearing screenings for newborns and safe sleep campaigns to prevent sudden unexpected infant death. We are forced to take legal action today so that these programs can continue to make communities safer and healthier.” 

“The Department of Health and Human Services is using federal funding as a political weapon to punish protected speech, trying to silence one of the nation’s most trusted voices for children’s well-being by cutting off critical public-health funding in retaliation for speaking the truth,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The Constitution does not allow the government to punish organizations for defending science, medicine, and children’s lives. This unlawful retaliation puts kids at risk, undermines public health, and threatens free speech itself—and we are going to court to stop them.”

The complaint asks the court to immediately enjoin the grant terminations and restore funding while the case proceeds, arguing that the administration’s actions violate the First Amendment and undermine public health. It cites examples of other grantees doing similar work that have not had grants cancelled, and critical public comments by members of the administration targeting AAP for protected speech, making clear that the actions taken against AAP are retaliatory.

The case is American Academy of Pediatrics v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, et al., and the legal team at Democracy Forward in this case includes Joshua Salzman, Allyson Scher, Michael Torcello, Joel McElvain, and Robin Thurston.

Read the complaint here.

Obama Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia just ruled that the U.S. government must subsidize the free speech of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP):

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5684666-aarp-lawsuit-grants-restored/

Federal judge orders HHS to restore $12m in funding to American Academy of Pediatrics
By Nathaniel Weixel - January 12, 2026

A federal judge late Sunday ordered the Trump administration to restore nearly $12 million in grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), after the organization’s funding was abruptly cut last month.

Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction that will restore the grants and block the cuts from taking effect while the case proceeds.

Howell concluded that the Department of Health and Human Services had a likely “retaliatory motive” for the terminations, due to the AAP’s outspoken opposition to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“This is not a case about whether AAP or HHS is right or even has the better position on vaccinations and gender-affirming care for children, or any other public health policy,” Howell wrote. “This is a case about whether the federal government has exercised power in a manner designed to chill public health policy debate by retaliating against a leading and generally trusted pediatrician member professional organization focused on improving the health of children.”

The AAP, the nation’s largest professional organization of doctors who treat children, said the canceled grants funded initiatives including preventing sudden unexpected infant death, improving early detection of developmental disabilities and birth defects, and strengthening pediatric care in rural communities.

The grants represent almost two-thirds of AAP’s federal funding, and if allowed to take effect, would have forced the organization to lay off about ten percent of its staff.

AAP in its lawsuit alleged the cuts were made in retaliation for the group speaking out against the Trump administration’s positions and actions, including changes to vaccine policy and gender-affirming care for minors.

AAP alleged a First Amendment violation designed to chill the organization’s speech on vaccines and other important public-health issues that differ from the views of the current HHS leadership.

HHS said that the grants were cut because they no longer aligned with the department’s priorities.

The agency defended the decision, saying it was protecting taxpayers from waste, and criticized the AAP’s hiring of progressive-aligned legal organization Democracy Forward.

“HHS is not obligated to fulfill AAP’s employment or spending desires with American taxpayer dollars,” agency general counsel Mike Stuart said on X.

“The arrogance behind this lawsuit is staggering — AAP seems to believe it’s their money to spend as they please. Wrong! It’s our money, and it’s HHS’s duty to protect taxpayers from wasteful spending,” Stuart wrote.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said the ruling “sends a clear message: no administration gets to silence doctors, undermine public health, or put kids at risk, and we will not stop fighting until this unlawful retaliation is fully ended.”

A MAHA story totally embargoed by the media.  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) will soon have to defend the accuracy and independence of their vaccine efficacy claims under oath, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  Should AAP fail to do so, or claims of fraud be proven, the AAP - and possibly its funders - will be overwhelmed by an avalanche of civil lawsuits:

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/chd-rico-lawsuit-against-aap-fraudulent-vaccine-safety-claims/

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/aap-lawsuit-complaint-redacted.pdf

Breaking: Children’s Health Defense Hits AAP With RICO Suit Over Fraudulent Vaccine Safety Claims
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and five other plaintiffs today accused the American Academy of Pediatrics of running a decades-long racketeering scheme to defraud American families about the safety of the childhood vaccine schedule. CHD filed the RICO suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. & Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. - January 21, 2026

In a lawsuit filed today in federal court, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and five other plaintiffs accused the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) of running a decades-long racketeering scheme to defraud American families about the safety of the childhood vaccine schedule.

The suit alleges that the AAP violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by making “false and fraudulent” claims about the safety of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) childhood immunization schedule — while receiving funding from vaccine manufacturers and providing financial incentives to pediatricians who achieve high vaccination rates.

“For too long, the AAP has been held up on a pedestal, as if it were a font of science and integrity,” said CHD CEO Mary Holland. “Sadly, that’s not the case.”

Instead, Holland said, the AAP “is a front operation in a racketeering scheme involving Big Pharma, Big Medicine and Big Media, ready at every turn to put profits above children’s health. It’s time to face facts and see what the AAP is really about,” Holland said.

According to the complaint, the AAP has worked to conceal the findings of studies that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) — now known as the National Academy of Medicine — published in 2002 and 2013.

The IOM called for more research after concluding that no studies had ever been conducted to compare the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

The AAP’s conduct constitutes a pattern of fraud under RICO, a statute often used to prosecute organized crime, said Rick Jaffe, attorney for the plaintiffs.

Jaffe told The Defender that while previous lawsuits “challenged individual vaccines or sought compensation for individual injuries,” this “is a fraud case following the playbook that took down Big Tobacco.”

“The AAP’s actions parallel those of Big Tobacco, which misled the public regarding the safety of its products,” Jaffe said. “Tobacco created false uncertainty to manufacture doubt. The AAP did the inverse — it created false certainty to foreclose questions. Both used the trappings of science to prevent actual science.”

CHD General Counsel Kim Mack Rosenberg said the lawsuit shows “the close ties between entities and individuals who work toward the same purpose — propping up the vaccine industry and those who profit from it.”

The AAP is the largest pediatric trade group in the U.S., with 67,000 members.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks financial damages for the individual plaintiffs. It also asks the court to require the AAP to disclose the “lack of comprehensive safety testing” of vaccines, and bar the AAP from making “further unqualified safety claims” about vaccines.

Drs. Paul Thomas and Kenneth Stoller — physicians whose professional reputations were harmed for opposing AAP’s guidelines, and the parents of four children who died or were injured after receiving routine childhood vaccinations, are among the plaintiffs.

Lawsuit: AAP’s childhood vaccine safety claims based on ‘foundational fraud’

According to the lawsuit, the AAP’s claims about vaccine safety rest on a “foundational fraud” — namely, a 2002 article by pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit, published in the journal Pediatrics. The article claims that infants can “theoretically” receive up to 10,000 vaccines at once without posing a health risk.

The AAP “deployed this theoretical reassurance” to block the IOM studies and questions about the safety of the childhood schedule, to assure parents, doctors and policymakers that the vaccine schedule was thoroughly tested, the complaint states.

The AAP incorporated Offit’s claims into its flagship Red Book — its guide to the prevention, management and control of pediatric diseases. “Pediatricians learned to cite the 10,000 vaccines figure when parents expressed concern,” the complaint states.

“The Red Book is their Bible. When AAP says the schedule is safe, that’s what parents hear in examination rooms across America,” Jaffe said.

“Offit’s theoretical PR article did not study, and could not prove, the safety of the cumulative schedule,” according to the complaint. Yet the pediatricians who deviate from this standard of care have faced professional and personal consequences.

‘AAP turned pediatricians into vaccine delivery systems’

Thomas and Stoller, the two pediatricians who are suing the AAP, said they suffered professional and economic harm after questioning vaccine safety claims.

In 2020, Thomas co-authored research, now retracted, comparing the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Days later, the Oregon Medical Board suspended Thomas, citing his deviation from AAP protocols and calling him a “threat to public health.”

“I was forced to abandon my patients, something highly illegal,” Thomas said. “There was economic damage in the millions and devastating stress and emotional duress.”

Stoller also faced professional discipline and reputational harm, according to the complaint. He lost his medical license in California and New Mexico after he granted medical exemptions to vaccine mandates.

“AAP turned pediatricians into vaccine delivery systems and destroyed the ones who asked questions,” Jaffe said.

AAP guidelines led to children’s vaccine-related deaths and injuries

The AAP’s “Red Book” vaccine recommendations contributed to the deaths and injuries of three of the plaintiffs’ children, according to the lawsuit.

Idaho resident Andrea Shaw’s two children — fraternal twins Dallas and Tyson Shaw — both died last year, eight days after receiving their 18-month vaccines.

According to the complaint, the Shaw family’s physician dismissed the parents’ warnings about the family’s history of adverse reactions to the flu vaccine. The doctor was following AAP guidance, “which does not generally recognize family history of vaccine reactions.”

A day after their vaccination, Shaw’s children were taken to the emergency room for a series of symptoms documented as “post-immunization reaction, initial encounter.”

A week later, the children died. Local authorities launched a homicide investigation against their mother, based on the suspicion that she caused their deaths. The investigation is still active.

New York resident Shanticia Nelson’s 1-year-old daughter, Sa’Niya Carter, died last year of cardiac arrest after having seizures roughly 12 hours after receiving six “catch-up” injections containing 12 vaccines.

Nelson told doctors she was concerned about giving her daughter so many vaccines at once, because the child was sick at the time. However, healthcare workers told Nelson that the “catch-up” regimen and vaccinating a “mildly ill” child were safe, according to the AAP.

Carter’s death certificate listed “sudden unexpected death in childhood” as the official cause of death. However, the coroner found signs of encephalitis, a condition linked to the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) vaccine, which Carter had received.

“Shaw and Nelson’s stories show what happens when AAP’s paradigm corrupts medical judgment at the point of care,” the complaint states.

Plaintiff Jane Doe’s daughter, “E,” a high school student in New York, sustained anaphylactic reactions after getting three routine childhood vaccines.

The student later obtained a medical exemption from all further vaccinations. But in 2024, her school’s medical consultant revoked the exemption — and two more exemptions “E” had obtained — citing AAP guidelines.

After school officials said she couldn’t return to school unless she complied with state vaccine mandates, “E” became suicidal — so her parents allowed her to “catch up” on her vaccines.

After getting those shots, “E” had a severe allergic reaction and was diagnosed with arthropathy, a joint disease, requiring surgery and ongoing care. Arthropathy has been linked to the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which “E” had received.

“Jane Doe’s story shows what happens when treating physicians get it right and the AAP paradigm overrides them,” the complaint states.

Complaint highlights AAP’s conflict of interest with vaccine makers

The AAP maintains financial relationships with vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi Pasteur, and also with the federal government. However, the group doesn’t disclose these relationships in its policy statements and public safety assurances, according to the complaint.

This has led to conflicts of interest, including the formation of an “association-in-fact enterprise,” referring to “individuals or entities that operate together for a common purpose without forming a formal legal entity.”

“The same pharmaceutical conglomerates that serve as enterprise participants in manufacturing childhood vaccines have systematically acquired companies treating the chronic conditions those vaccines cause, creating a closed-loop system that financializes childhood illness,” the complaint states.

The complaint alleges that AAP has subsequently resisted any changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, including those enacted under the leadership of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Last year, the AAP and other medical organizations sued Kennedy and other federal health officials and agencies. The groups seek to roll back the changes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made to the childhood schedule. Last week, the AAP updated its complaint after HHS reduced the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11 earlier this month.

The AAP last year released its own “evidence-based” immunization schedule, identical to the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule as it was before Kennedy became health secretary. Several states have adopted the AAP’s schedule.

AAP later rejected the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) vote to end hepatitis B shots for newborns, claiming children will “die” as a result. HHS removed AAP members from ACIP work groups last year. AAP’s updated lawsuit also asks the court to block ACIP’s next meeting in February.

In a separate lawsuit filed last month, the AAP demanded HHS restore $12 million in research grants that HHS withdrew last year. Last week, a federal judge reinstated the funding. AAP has also called for the prohibition of religious and philosophical exemptions to vaccination.

When HHS “has attempted reform, AAP leads the opposition,” the complaint states.

Mack Rosenberg said the AAP “fails to follow the actual science” in its lawsuits. Instead, the organization relies “only on that which supports its position that the childhood schedule is ‘safe and effective.’”

Plaintiffs compare AAP’s actions to those of Big Tobacco

The complaint draws parallels between AAP’s actions and tobacco companies’ efforts to conceal the dangers of smoking, which the U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted in a landmark RICO case, U.S. v. Philip Morris USA.

In the Philip Morris case, a federal court found that the tobacco industry was liable for denials about the health risks of tobacco spanning several decades.

The complaint states there are parallels between the AAP’s actions and those of Big Tobacco, including “suppression of adverse research, use of ‘independent’ scientific voices to block studies, and coordinated enterprise activity to mislead the public.”

This is the latest in a series of lawsuits CHD has filed. These include lawsuits against:

• The federal Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, which oversees COVID-19 vaccine injury compensation claims.
• The U.S. Department of Defense over its “sham” religious exemption policies,
• The state of New York, alleging its prohibition of religious exemptions is unconstitutional.