Nate Raymond
Jan 12 (Reuters) – A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending a nearly $12 million grant to the American Academy of Pediatrics that was canceled after the medical group clashed with U.S. Surgeon General Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy changes.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction late Sunday as the medical group likely prevailed on its claim that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services retaliated against it for its advocacy that violated its First Amendment right to free speech.
She said HHS officials made “derogatory” attacks on the AAP for its support of childhood vaccinations and gender-affirming care, demonstrating “clear hostility” to the organization when its funding was terminated.
“When force and coercion replace reason in the marketplace of ideas, the public suffers from a lack of access to quality information,” Howell, who was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama, wrote.
AAP and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Howell’s ruling comes after a Boston judge last week cleared the way for the AAP and other medical groups to file a separate, earlier lawsuit challenging HHS policies adopted under Kennedy that they said would lower vaccination rates in the United States.
The AAP said the seven grants were abruptly canceled on Dec. 16, the day before a Boston judge heard arguments in the case, in an effort to discredit the organization, which had publicly criticized major changes in federal vaccine policy under Kennedy. Kennedy founded the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense before becoming head of HHS.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration administer these grants, which support initiatives such as reducing sudden infant deaths and improving care in rural communities.
The AAP broke with federal policy in August to recommend that all young children receive a COVID-19 vaccine, unlike the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under Kennedy, which said in May that healthy children could be vaccinated if parents and doctors agreed it was needed.
The group harshly criticized another move by the CDC on Jan. 5 to cut the number of vaccines it recommends per child, calling it “dangerous and unnecessary,” and the AAP’s continued support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth, which the Trump administration has sought to limit.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Matthew Lewis and Andrea Ricci)
