A leading pediatrics group is asking a federal judge to stop the Trump administration from terminating nearly $12 million in long-running federal grants, reports BritPanorama.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) argues that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ended seven grants last week in retaliation for the academy’s criticism of the administration’s actions, which they believe threaten children’s health. This includes advocacy for evidence-based vaccine policy. The Academy’s efforts have faced “targeted smears from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other senior officials seeking to discredit one of the agency’s most prominent critics,” according to the complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The suit requests that the court immediately block the funding cuts and reinstate the grants while the case is ongoing.
“In this suit, AAP challenges HHS’s retaliatory actions, which not only irreparably harm AAP, but undermine the health and safety of all Americans by senselessly slashing programs that help pediatricians detect, prevent, and manage fatal and debilitating illnesses and conditions,” the complaint states.
The funding supports initiatives for “training and technical assistance to pediatricians in rural communities, the reduction of sudden unexpected infant death, the prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and universal newborn hearing screenings,” the complaint details.
“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,” the AAP warned in a statement Wednesday.
The Academy has 67,000 members, including primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists, and pediatric surgical specialists. It is being represented by Democracy Forward, an organization that has filed numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration this year.
An HHS spokesperson stated that the grants awarded to the Academy and other organizations were cancelled “because they no longer align with the Department’s mission or priorities.”
The AAP and Kennedy have a contentious history, particularly over public health policies such as childhood vaccinations.
Earlier this year, the AAP notably diverged from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the Covid-19 vaccination recommendation for children, asserting that all children aged 6 months to 23 months should receive the vaccine unless they have known allergies. The AAP’s stance was more definitive than the CDC’s, which advocated for a shared clinical decision-making approach.
Additionally, the AAP criticized the CDC last week for not recommending universal birth doses of the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.
A coalition of medical groups led by the AAP argued in federal court last week that recent changes to vaccine recommendations by the CDC’s advisory committees and certain actions by Kennedy breach the Administrative Procedure Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
The recent hearing in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts dealt with the government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the AAP against Kennedy, over alleged violations when changes to immunization schedules were made and whether the plaintiffs have the standing to bring the suit.
