The AAP Won a Court Ruling from a Biden-Appointed Judge That Blocked the HHS Secretary’s Long-Established Authority to Appoint Members to the ACIP Vaccine Advisory Panel
Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) won a preliminary ruling from a federal judge who overturned HHS Secretary Kennedy’s changes to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice’s (ACIP), blocking 13 new appointees despite HHS Secretaries’ longstanding absolute authority over committee appointments. The ruling also invalidated the recent decision to reduce recommended infant vaccines.
Who is the AAP and what motivated them to bring this lawsuit?
- Big Pharma President’s Circle: The AAP lists among its largest donors the big pharma staples Pfizer, Merck, Moderna, and Sanofi, among others. Is it any surprise they’re pushing for more vaccines and more prescription drug use?
- Defending the excessive vaccine schedule: While HHS sought to create a streamlined, evidence-based schedule of 11 essential vaccines, the AAP fought to preserve a bloated 18-disease shot regimen, including ongoing mandates for COVID-19 and Hepatitis B for newborns, ignoring cumulative safety data demanded by parents and independent scientists.
- Promoting Transgender Irreversible Medical Interventions for Minors: The AAP remains a staunch advocate for what they deem “gender-affirming care,” including the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children. This stance ignores the growing international medical consensus and the concerns of traditional families regarding the long-term biological impact on minors.
- Opposition to Choice and Religious Freedom: The AAP has doubled down on its demand to eliminate all non-medical vaccine exemptions for school attendance, effectively seeking to strip parents of their fundamental right to make healthcare decisions for their children based on their conscience or faith.
- Fighting Transparency Initiatives: Rather than welcoming a “Data Pause” to verify safety signals and health outcomes, the AAP has used its massive lobbying apparatus to sue the federal government, attempting to block the very transparency that 80% of Americans now demand from health agencies.
“The AAP is no longer a neutral medical body; it is a corporately-captured trade organization and political stakeholder fighting to keep the doors of HHS closed to outside scrutiny,” said Dr. Ryan Cole, Head of Medical & Scientific Affairs at the Independent Medical Alliance. “And this ruling represents a direct assault on the duly legal mandate given to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to bring transparency, safety, and accountability to a broken public health system.”
A recent national survey conducted by John Zogby Strategies found that 91% of likely voters agree that every individual has the right to informed consent for prescription medications, vaccinations, and all medical interventions. The finding represents one of the strongest supermajorities recorded on any health policy question in recent polling history.
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About Dr. Ryan Cole
Dr. Cole is a Mayo Clinic–trained, board-certified anatomic and clinical pathologist with subspecialty expertise in dermatopathology and molecular diagnostics. Over a career spanning more than two decades, he has reviewed hundreds of thousands of tissue and blood samples through Cole Diagnostics, the independent laboratory he founded in Boise, Idaho, in 2004. He is recognized for identifying emerging biological and immune-system patterns before they surface in broader population data. An IMA Senior Fellow since the program’s inception, Dr. Cole has testified before federal, state, and international legislative bodies on matters of vaccine safety, medical freedom, and pandemic policy. He was a leading voice in the effort to pass Idaho’s landmark Medical Freedom Act, which Governor Brad Little signed into law in April 2025.
About the Poll
The national survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted February 25–26, 2026, by John Zogby Strategies, commissioned by the Health Freedom Defense Fund and the Brownstone Institute. The margin of error is +/- 3.2 percentage points. The party breakdown is 37% Republican, 36% Democrat, 27% Independent. The full survey and analysis are available at brownstone.org.
