The American Academy of Pediatrics announced Wednesday it is filing a lawsuit after the Department of Health and Human Services terminated nearly $12 million in federal grants to the organization.
The AAP said the grants were slashed in retaliation for its opposition to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s changes to federal vaccine policy.
The pediatrics group argued that the cancellation is a violation of its First Amendment rights, while HHS said the grants were canceled because the programs no longer align with the agency's priorities.
"This coordinated attack to strip critical funds from AAP was not the result of a routine reappraisal of whether the terminated awards furthered agency priorities ... but was a decision from HHS leadership to punish AAP for its speech that contradicted and criticized HHS's views on high-profile health policy issues," the AAP's lawsuit stated.
The AAP said the canceled grants supported efforts to prevent sudden unexpected infant death, improve early detection of developmental disabilities and birth defects, strengthen pediatric care in rural communities, assist adolescents facing substance use and mental health challenges, and raise standards of care for newborns, according to the lawsuit.
"The affected AAP programs are collateral damage, cancelled not because they are associated with or promote policies that the current administration opposes on their own terms, but merely because HHS wants to harm AAP for its advocacy," the lawsuit stated.
As part of the suit, the AAP wants the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the funding cuts and restore the grants.
Kennedy has called for the AAP to disclose the corporations backing the organization, "so that Americans may ask whether the AAP's recommendations reflect public health interest, or are, perhaps, just a pay-to-play scheme to promote commercial ambitions of AAP's Big Pharma benefactors."
The AAP, along with several other medical organizations, previously sued Kennedy and HHS over the decision to drop the COVID-19 vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended immunization schedules for children and pregnant women.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.