{"id":355024,"date":"2025-12-18T00:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T00:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/355024\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T00:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T00:59:07","slug":"american-academy-of-pediatrics-loses-government-funding-after-criticizing-rfk-jr-robert-f-kennedy-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/355024\/","title":{"rendered":"American Academy of Pediatrics loses government funding after criticizing RFK Jr | Robert F Kennedy Jr"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US department of health and human services (HHS) has terminated several multi-million-dollar grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics following the association\u2019s criticisms of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a>\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n

The funding cuts, which affect projects focused on issues including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and early identification of autism, were first reported<\/a> by the Washington Post and made without prior notice to the AAP.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Guardian, AAP CEO, Mark Del Monte, said: \u201cAAP learned this week that seven grants to AAP under the US Department of Health and Human Services are being terminated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis vital work spanned multiple child health priorities, including reducing sudden infant death, rural access to health care, mental health, adolescent health, supporting children with birth defects, early identification of autism, and prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, among other topics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Del Monte added: \u201cThe sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families in communities across the United States. AAP is exploring all available options, including legal recourse, in response to these actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told the Washington Post that the grants were terminated because they no longer align with departmental priorities. The Guardian has contacted HHS for comment.<\/p>\n

HHS terminated the funding after noting that the AAP\u2019s materials used what the department characterized as \u201cidentity-based language\u201d, including references to racial disparities and the term \u201cpregnant people\u201d, according to administration officials cited by the Washington Post.<\/p>\n

One letter terminating a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on birth defects and infant disorders pointed to language in grant materials that are \u201cnot aligned with current CDC and HHS priorities\u201d, the paper reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese elements are not incidental; they are woven through the title, narrative and work plans of your organization\u2019s award project and define your organization\u2019s project\u2019s objective framework,\u201d Jamie Legier, director of CDC\u2019s office of grants services, reportedly wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs such, your organization\u2019s activities under [award number] are no longer in alignment with the stated HHS and CDC priority areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Kennedy criticized the AAP for issuing its own Covid-19 vaccine recommendations which diverged from federal guidance he had set. Kennedy announced that the Covid-19 vaccine would no longer be included in the CDC\u2019s recommended immunizations for healthy children and pregnant women, breaking with longstanding medical guidance.<\/p>\n

In response, AAP president, Susan J Kressly, said <\/a>in June: \u201cWe won\u2019t lend our name or our expertise to a system that is being politicized at the expense of children\u2019s health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following AAP\u2019s release of its own vaccine recommendations, Kennedy on Twitter\/X questioned<\/a> whether AAP\u2019s recommendations \u201creflect public health interest, or are, perhaps, just a pay-to-play scheme to promote commercial ambitions of AAP\u2019s Big Pharma benefactors\u201d.<\/p>\n

The AAP, along with other major medical associations, have since filed a lawsuit <\/a>against HHS to challenge Kennedy\u2019s vaccine changes.<\/p>\n

In an amicus brief filed by Defend Public Health \u2013 a network of health workers and researchers \u2013 in support of the lawsuit, the group also criticized Kennedy\u2019s changes to Covid-19 vaccine policies.<\/p>\n

DPH argued that the decision would have far-reaching consequences, stating: \u201cFirst, this downgrade immediately introduced significant uncertainty and complexity to the process of administering COVID-19 vaccines in pharmacy settings \u2026 Second, pregnant patients and children \u2013 populations at heightened risk from many infectious diseases \u2013 are most affected by these disruptions \u2026 Third, reduced vaccination coverage burdens hospitals and the health-care workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US department of health and human services (HHS) has terminated several multi-million-dollar grants to the American Academy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-355024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}