Aw! Did The American Academy Of Pediatrics Hurt RFK Jr.'s Feewings?
They criticized him and now they are losing their HHS funding.
For years, conservatives screamed and cried over the horror of “cancel culture.” Not even just conservatives, really. Many people who had previously considered themselves on the Left were also up in arms over the horror of canceling people or things just for, say, using racial slurs or sexually harassing a few people here and there. Because “freedom of speech” means never having to say you’re sorry
But do you know what the Left never did? We never “canceled” important research into fetal alcohol syndrome because of words we didn’t like. That is not a thing we did. When Louis CK was “canceled” for masturbating in front of women who did not feel they could say “no” to him and Roseanne was “canceled” for saying racist shit about Valerie Jarett, they lost their comedy television shows, not their ability to provide support for children with birth defects or increase access to health care for children in rural areas.
Why do I bring this up? Because the Department of Health and Human Services just “canceled” seven grants worth millions of dollars for the American Academy of Pediatrics because they didn’t like the words the organization used in their medical research.
“This vital work spanned multiple child health priorities, including reducing sudden infant death, rural access to health care, mental health, adolescent health, supporting children with birth defects, early identification of autism, and prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, among other topics,” Mark Del Monte, AAP’s chief executive and executive vice president, said in a statement to The Guardian, adding that “The sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families in communities across the United States. AAP is exploring all available options, including legal recourse, in response to these actions.”
Why would anyone oppose supporting children with birth defects? Because the AAP used language that was inclusive of trans people and acknowledged that racism can play a role in how emergency services are handled, and the HHS doesn’t care if children have birth defects or if Black children don’t get the same level of care as white children.
Via Washington Post:
One letter terminating a CDC grant on birth defects and infant disorders said “identity-based language” used in grant materials are “not aligned with current CDC and HHS priorities.” AAP received $18 million from that grant from 2023 to 2025.
The letter highlighted language in AAP’s application and award documents, including a reference to “the health of pregnant and postpartum people,” a statement that “disparities caused by racism and poverty are only exacerbated during emergencies” and a commitment to incorporating “diverse perspectives into clinical care and public health materials.”
“These elements are not incidental; they are woven through the title, narrative and work plans of your organization’s award project and define your organization’s project’s objective framework,” Jamie Legier, director of CDC’s office of grants services, wrote in the letter. “As such, your organization’s activities under [award number] are no longer in alignment with the stated HHS and CDC priority areas.”
Yes, because they are a medical organization that is trying to provide the best care possible for everyone, not soothe the fragile egos of conservatives who are worried that considering other perspectives will make them feel like they don’t matter.
In another termination letter, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) administrator Thomas Engels explained that a grant focused on “comprehensive systems integration for adolescent and young adult health” was being nixed because it didn’t focus on nutrition and chronic disease prevention. By sheer coincidence, we are sure, both of these “priorities” are more about “personal responsibility” and what people can do as individuals rather than things that necessitate actual professional care.
And we can probably assume that the HHS doesn’t want anyone doing any research into early detection of autism because it would just ruin everything for poor Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if it could be detected before children get their vaccines.
Speaking of Kennedy, it’s worth noting that the AAP has been a constant burr in his plans to make children more susceptible to vaccine-preventable illnesses. Earlier this year, after the HHS issued their no good, very bad COVID vaccine recommendations for children, the AAP issued their own guidance, causing Kennedy to throw an enormous tantrum on social media and accuse the AAP of only doing so because they were bought and paid for by “big pharma.”
Highlighting a screenshot from the AAP’s website noting that they receive donations from Merck, Moderna, Pfizer, and Sanofi, Kennedy wrote:
These four companies make virtually every vaccine on the CDC recommended childhood vaccine schedule. AAP is angry that CDC has eliminated corporate influence in decisions over vaccine recommendations and returned CDC to gold-standard science and evidence-based medicine laser-focused on children’s health.
AAP today released its own list of corporate-friendly vaccine recommendations. The Trump Administration believes in free speech and AAP has a right to make its case to the American people. But AAP should follow the lead of HHS and disclose conflicts of interest, including its corporate entanglements and those of its journal—Pediatrics—so that Americans may ask whether the AAP’s recommendations reflect public health interest, or are, perhaps, just a pay-to-play scheme to promote commercial ambitions of AAP’s Big Pharma benefactors.
AAP should also be candid with doctors and hospitals that recommendations that diverge from the CDC’s official list are not shielded from liability under the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act.
Oh yes, because surely an organization representing pediatricians only recommends giving children vaccines to prevent them from dying of COVID because of all of that sweet, sweet Big Pharma dough. I mean, it’s not as though pharmaceutical companies would, very obviously, make a whole lot more money treating the diseases for which children are immunized than preventing them from getting them in the first place with vaccines or anything.
The AAP responded to this criticism by pointing out, correctly, that, rather than being a profit-making venture, vaccinating children actually tends to cost pediatricians money:
Providing immunizations imposes significant costs for a pediatric practice: high upfront vaccine purchase costs, complex storage and handling expenses such as specialized refrigeration and insurance, database software to meet state reporting requirements, professional liability insurance, medical equipment and physician and staff time. These costs make vaccinations one of a pediatric practice’s biggest overhead expenses.
Payments from private insurance and Medicaid vary widely and often fail to cover the full cost of administering vaccines. The federal government’s Vaccines for Children program provides free vaccines but no payment for the associated costs. Because of this, surveys indicate that many pediatrician practices find providing childhood vaccines to be a financial burden.
Despite this, they still want your kids to get vaccines, because they do not want them to die or get seriously ill. So weird, right?
Just take a moment and imagine if the HHS under Joe Biden or Barack Obama had canceled grants to the AAP or any other organization doing this kind of important work because the language they used was insufficiently woke or because they criticized them and hurt their feelings. Conservatives would lose their minds.
Well, they’d probably be happy about canceling the grants in general, because they hate spending money on things that actually help people, but they’d be pretty huffy about the reason for it.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
The great cancel culture panic was one of the biggest crocks of shit this country has ever panicked about. It’s up there with the satanic panic.
You’ll always know a narcissist by the trail of destruction behind them.