$12 Million in Grants Cutoff Sparks Lawsuit by American Academy of Pediatrics

By Sam Barron | Wednesday, December 24, 2025

The American Academy of Pediatrics announced it is filing a lawsuit after the Department of Health and Human Services terminated nearly $12 million in federal grants to the organization.

The AAP stated that the grants were slashed in retaliation for its opposition to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes to federal vaccine policy.

In the lawsuit, the American Academy of Pediatrics argued that the cancellation violates its First Amendment rights, while HHS said the grants were canceled because the programs no longer align with agency priorities.

The AAP’s lawsuit described the funding cuts as “a coordinated attack to strip critical funds from AAP,” emphasizing that the decision was not a routine reassessment of whether terminated awards furthered agency priorities but rather an action by HHS leadership to punish the organization for its speech opposing the department’s views on high-profile health policy issues.

The canceled grants supported efforts to prevent sudden unexpected infant death, improve early detection of developmental disabilities and birth defects, strengthen pediatric care in rural communities, assist adolescents facing substance use and mental health challenges, and raise standards of care for newborns, according to the lawsuit.

“The affected AAP programs are collateral damage,” the lawsuit stated. “They were cancelled not because they are associated with or promote policies that the current administration opposes on their own terms, but merely because HHS wants to harm AAP for its advocacy.”

As part of the suit, the AAP seeks a preliminary injunction from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the funding cuts and restore the grants.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for the AAP to disclose corporations backing the organization, claiming Americans should determine whether the AAP’s recommendations reflect public health interests or constitute a pay-to-play scheme promoting commercial ambitions of corporate partners.

The American Academy of Pediatrics previously sued Kennedy and HHS over the decision to remove the COVID-19 vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended immunization schedules for children and pregnant women.