The Department of Health and Human Services has terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including for initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome and identifying autism early, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The abrupt loss of funds this week surprised the professional pediatrician association, which has been one of the harshest critics of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes to federal vaccine policy.
“The sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families in communities across the United States,” Mark Del Monte, AAP’s chief executive and executive vice president, said in a statement to The Post. The organization is exploring options to push back, he said, including a legal challenge.
Administration officials cited a range of reasons for cutting off the funding to AAP, including the group’s use of “identity-based language,” including references to racial disparities and “pregnant people,” and insufficient focus in at least one grant program on nutrition and chronic disease prevention, which they said runs afoul of HHS’s priorities.
These 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’s mission or priorities,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement.
The AAP has criticized Kennedy for making unilateral changes to federal vaccine policy, calling them unscientific and arguing that his actions undermined evidence-based medicine, sidelined expert advice, eroded trust in vaccines and jeopardized public health by making communities more vulnerable to preventable diseases. The group condemned his firing of the CDC’s independent vaccine advisers to replace them with his own picks, many of whom previously criticized vaccine guidance.
Kennedy has blasted AAP for receiving funding from vaccine manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. In response to the organization contradicting him by recommending annual covid vaccination for infants and toddlers, Kennedy called on the group to disclose conflicts of interest “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 and other medical groups are suing HHS and Kennedy in federal court, alleging that his coronavirus vaccine policy changes violate federal law. The lawsuit is seeking that the Kennedy’s vaccine advisory panel be disbanded and reconstituted under court supervision.
AAP received $18.4 million in federal grants from HHS this year, according to a federal grants database. Some anti-vaccine activists and other allies of Kennedy had criticized the federal funding of the group because it supports school vaccine mandates.
Three of the terminated grants had been awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; four others had been awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, another health agency.
“This 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,” Del Monte said.
A top HHS official emailed other department and CDC officials Tuesday with the subject line, “CDC Termination Memos for Review,” and directed officials to “please proceed with canceling these today if not done already,” according to the email obtained by The Post.
“10-4. On it,” Jordan Faircloth, CDC’s deputy chief of staff and a political appointee, responded about an hour later.
One letter terminating a CDC grant on birth defects and infant disorders said “identity-based language” used in grant materials are “not aligned with current CDC and HHS priorities.” AAP received $18 million from that grant from 2023 to 2025.
The letter highlighted language in AAP’s application and award documents, including a reference to “the health of pregnant and postpartum people,” a statement that “disparities caused by racism and poverty are only exacerbated during emergencies” and a commitment to incorporating “diverse perspectives into clinical care and public health materials.”
“These elements are not incidental; they are woven through the title, narrative and work plans of your organization’s award project and define your organization’s project’s objective framework,” Jamie Legier, director of CDC’s office of grants services, wrote in the letter. “As such, your organization’s activities under [award number] are no longer in alignment with the stated HHS and CDC priority areas.”
Several grant terminations to AAP cited a federal statute allowing a federal award to be terminated “if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”
In a termination letter, Thomas Engels, the HRSA administrator, suggested one grant aimed at “comprehensive systems integration for adolescent and young adult health” wasn’t aligned with the agency’s “focused emphasis on nutrition and the prevention and management of chronic disease.”
A former senior leader at CDC said relationships with provider organizations like the AAP are essential to effective public health.
“Groups such as AAP translate evidence into clinical guidance, support frontline providers, and help ensure that public health recommendations reach children and families in real-world settings,” according to a text message from Greta Massetti, who was principal deputy director of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control until August and now chairs the population health sciences department at Georgia State University. “Abruptly canceling grants that support these partnerships risks weakening the infrastructure that connects science, practice, and prevention.”
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