\n The American Academy of Pediatrics has joined the ranks of organizations that are losing funding for grants that, federal officials say, don\u2019t align with the Trump administration\u2019s missions or priorities.\n <\/p>\n
\n The US Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that it has terminated grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The organization, representing 67,000 US pediatricians, has criticized some of the agency\u2019s positions and had ongoing clashes with officials, including a legal battle.\n <\/p>\n
\n The AAP learned this week that seven grants under HHS are being terminated, Mark Del Monte, the organization\u2019s chief executive officer and executive vice president, said in a statement Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n
\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 Del Monte said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe Academy is proud of this work, and of the staff, pediatricians, and partners who were engaged in these important programs. The sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families in communities across the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cAAP is exploring all available options, including legal recourse, in response to these actions. The AAP remains committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of all infants, children, adolescents and young adults.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The cancellations, totaling millions of dollars, were first reported by the Washington Post<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said Wednesday that the AAP is one of several medical groups that have had funding terminated.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThese grants, previously awarded to the American Academy of Pediatrics, were canceled along with a number of other grants to other organizations because they no longer align with the Department\u2019s mission or priorities,\u201d Nixon said in an email.\n <\/p>\n \n Under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the department\u2019s stated priorities<\/a> have included addressing chronic diseases and toxins, combating \u201cgender ideology,\u201d exploring alternative testing models, furthering the understanding of autism and ending \u201cillegal race discrimination\u201d as well as \u201cdangerous gain-of-function research.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The AAP and Kennedy have been in conflict \u2013 and litigation \u2013 over certain public health policies, including those related to childhood vaccinations.\n <\/p>\n \n Earlier this year, the AAP took the rare step of breaking with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> on its recommendation that the Covid-19 vaccine for children should be \u201cbased on shared clinical decision-making.\u201d The AAP recommendations were more explicit, saying that all children 6 months through 23 months should receive a Covid-19 vaccine unless they have known allergies to the vaccine or its ingredients.\n <\/p>\n \n The AAP also criticized the CDC<\/a> on Tuesday for adopting its vaccine advisers\u2019 decision to no longer recommend the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. \u201cIt is deeply disappointing to see the continued dismissal of expertise to inform recommendations that have broad implications on the health of America\u2019s children,\u201d AAP President Dr. Susan Kressly said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n \n A coalition of medical groups led by the AAP argued in federal court<\/a> Wednesday that recent changes to recommendations by the CDC\u2019s vaccine advisers and certain actions by Kennedy violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act.\n <\/p>\n \n The hearing, in US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, focused on the government\u2019s motion to dismiss a lawsuit that the AAP filed against Kennedy, claiming that the Administrative Procedure Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act<\/a> were violated<\/a> when changes to immunization schedules were made, and whether the plaintiffs have standing to bring suit.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cRight now, our children need strong government leadership. With measles surging, with flu and respiratory season upon us, and with holiday travel leading to more exposures for babies too young to be immunized who rely on their community to protect them, families deserve clarity. They deserve thoughtful, deliberative guidance grounded in medical evidence,\u201d Kressly said in a news release<\/a> about the hearing Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey deserve access to immunizations for their children without confusion and chaos,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd their pediatricians will do all we can \u2013 from the clinic to the courthouse \u2013 to keep children healthy, to speak up for them and to fight for them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The American Academy of Pediatrics has joined the ranks of organizations that are losing funding for grants that,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-354612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}