By Nate Raymond
Jan 12 (Reuters) – A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from terminating nearly $12 million in grant funding awarded to the American Academy of Pediatrics that was canceled after the medical group clashed with U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over changes to vaccine policy.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction late on Sunday after finding the medical group was likely to prevail on its claim that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services retaliated against it because of its advocacy in violation of its free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
She said “pejorative” statements HHS officials had made attacking AAP because of its support of childhood vaccinations and gender-affirming care indicated they had “clear animus” toward the group when its grants were terminated.
“When force and coercion replace reason in the marketplace of ideas, the public suffers by denial of access to high-quality information,” wrote Howell, who was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama.
Skye Perryman, whose liberal legal group Democracy Forward represented AAP, in a statement said the judge “shut down a dangerous attempt to use federal funding as a political weapon and punish pediatricians for speaking the truth.”
HHS said it does not comment on litigation.
Howell’s ruling came after a judge in Boston last week cleared the way for AAP and other medical groups to move forward with a separate, earlier lawsuit they brought challenging HHS policies adopted under Kennedy that they say will reduce U.S. vaccination rates.
AAP said the seven grants were abruptly canceled on December 16, a day before the Boston judge heard arguments in that case, as part of an effort to discredit the group after it emerged as a vocal critic of major changes to federal vaccine policy under Kennedy, who founded the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense before becoming the head of HHS.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration administered the grants, which supported initiatives to reduce sudden infant death and improve care in rural communities, among other things.
AAP broke with federal policy in August when it recommended that all young children get vaccinated against COVID-19, diverging from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under Kennedy, which in May said healthy children can take the shots if parents and doctors agree they are needed.
The group sharply criticized a separate move by the CDC on January 5 to cut the number of vaccines it recommends every child receive as “dangerous and unnecessary,” and AAP continues to support gender-affirming care for transgender youth, which the Trump administration has sought to restrict.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Matthew Lewis and Andrea Ricci)
Comments