Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit founded by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and five additional plaintiffs filed a federal RICO lawsuit Wednesday accusing the American Academy of Pediatrics of running a long-standing racketeering scheme to mislead families about the safety of the childhood vaccine schedule while maintaining financial ties to vaccine manufacturers.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges the AAP violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by promoting false safety assurances about the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule, rewarding pediatricians for high vaccination rates, and concealing the absence of studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children. The suit points to findings from the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine, which concluded in 2002 and again in 2013 that no such comparative safety studies had been conducted and called for further research.
Plaintiffs allege the AAP instead relied on what the lawsuit describes as a “foundational fraud,” a 2002 Pediatrics journal article by Dr. Paul Offit claiming infants could theoretically receive up to 10,000 vaccines at once. The complaint says the AAP used that claim to shut down safety questions, embed the figure into its Red Book guidelines, and assure parents, physicians, and policymakers that the vaccine schedule was thoroughly tested, despite the article being theoretical and not based on clinical study.
The complaint alleges the AAP maintains undisclosed financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, and Sanofi Pasteur, creating conflicts of interest and an “association-in-fact enterprise” that benefits both vaccine manufacturers and companies treating chronic conditions linked to vaccines. Plaintiffs also claim the AAP has opposed changes to the childhood vaccine schedule made under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and has pursued litigation against federal agencies while promoting its own vaccine schedule adopted by several states.
The lawsuit seeks financial damages for the plaintiffs, court-ordered disclosures about the lack of comprehensive vaccine safety testing, and an injunction barring the AAP from making unqualified vaccine safety claims. The plaintiffs compare the case to the federal RICO prosecution of Big Tobacco, alleging similar patterns of suppressing adverse research and misleading the public.
Children’s Health Defense CEO Mary Holland said 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. It’s time to face facts and see what the AAP is really about.”
Source: Children’s Health Defense
