Washington, D.C. – In a bold legal move that escalates the ongoing battle over childhood vaccination policies, Children's Health Defense (CHD), founded by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., filed a federal lawsuit on January 21, 2026, against the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The suit, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, invokes the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, alleging the AAP orchestrated a decades-long scheme to defraud American families by promoting unsubstantiated claims about the safety of the CDC's childhood immunization schedule.
The complaint, co-filed by CHD and five individual plaintiffs—including pediatricians Paul Thomas and Kenneth Stoller, and parents whose children allegedly suffered vaccine-related harms—portrays the AAP as the linchpin of an "association-in-fact enterprise" involving pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, and Sanofi Pasteur. According to the filing, the AAP received undisclosed funding from these manufacturers while incentivizing pediatricians to achieve high vaccination rates, turning them into "vaccine delivery systems" prioritizing profits over health.
Central to the allegations is a 2002 article in the AAP's journal Pediatrics by Dr. Paul Offit, claiming infants could safely handle up to 10,000 vaccines at once—a theoretical assertion incorporated into the AAP's influential Red Book. Plaintiffs argue this created "false certainty" about vaccine safety, concealing Institute of Medicine (now National Academy of Medicine) reports from 2002 and 2013 that highlighted the absence of studies comparing health outcomes between fully vaccinated and unvaccinated children. "The AAP's actions parallel those of Big Tobacco," said attorney Rick Jaffe in the complaint, accusing the group of suppressing research and misleading the public to foreclose questions.
CHD CEO Mary Holland emphasized the suit's gravity: "The AAP is a front operation in a racketeering scheme involving Big Pharma, Big Medicine, and Big Media, ready at every turn to put profits above children’s health." The plaintiffs seek damages, a court order barring the AAP from making unqualified safety claims, and full disclosure of testing gaps. Specific harms cited include the deaths of three children—Dallas and Tyson Shaw, Sa’Niya Carter—and severe injuries to another, allegedly linked to vaccines administered under AAP guidelines. Drs. Thomas and Stoller claim professional ruin, with license suspensions tied to their deviations from AAP protocols.
This lawsuit arrives amid heated vaccine policy reforms under Kennedy's HHS tenure. Since 2025, the CDC has reduced recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11, aligning with nations like Denmark, and removed universal COVID-19 shots for healthy children and pregnant women. The AAP has fiercely opposed these changes, leading a coalition that sued HHS multiple times—most recently amending complaints on January 19, 2026, to challenge ACIP reconstitutions and demand its disbandment. A federal judge recently restored nearly $12 million in HHS grants to the AAP, ruling cuts were retaliatory for the group's advocacy.
AAP representatives have not yet responded to the RICO suit, but in prior statements, they've defended their guidelines as evidence-based, criticizing Kennedy's influence as "reckless" and endangering public health. Critics of CHD, including public health experts, dismiss the claims as anti-vaccine misinformation, pointing to decades of data supporting vaccine efficacy in preventing diseases like measles and polio.
The case draws parallels to the landmark U.S. v. Philip Morris tobacco fraud suit, potentially reshaping pediatric care debates. As battles rage in courts and policy arenas, families grapple with eroding trust in institutions. With discovery looming, this could expose deep financial ties—or vindicate the AAP's stance. The outcome may redefine vaccine discourse in America.
For more on Children's Health Defense see our exclusive interview with CEO Mary Holland: Protecting children, Vaccine Education, RFK JR, Children’s Health Defense Mary Holland | EP282
