By now, virtually every parent in the U.S. understands that COVID-19 shots for healthy children are a very bad idea. Public health authorities in nearly every country on earth abandoned the practice a couple of years ago. Even the World Health Organization (WHO), which admittedly lost whatever credibility it had left during the pandemic, stopped recommending the shot for healthy kids. At no point did the theoretical benefits outweigh the risks of an experimental product that had unknown long-term risks in the pediatric population.
Many are probably wondering why this topic is still being talked about at all, which would have been a valid question until recently, when an organization formerly known as the gold standard for pediatric advocacy defied logic and commanded that all babies, on their 6-month birthday, receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) made this recommendation in response to the CDC’s credibility-restoring move of removing the COVID-19 vaccine from the childhood schedule. They have even gone so far as to sue Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and the CDC over the very sound decision.
This is not the first time the AAP has done something crazy. In 2023, its board voted unanimously in favor of recommending transition therapy for “transgender” kids. We don’t let kids choose what they eat for dinner, much less make irreversible, life-altering decisions. To put a cherry on top of the insanity, the AAP has also called for religious vaccine exemptions to be outlawed. This authoritarian organization thinks they know better than any parent or doctor in this country and wants you to bend to their will while they hold your child down and give them whatever pharmaceutical product they choose.
In the case of childhood vaccines, pharmaceutical companies are exempt from liability for harms their products may cause, making the lack of choice even more egregious. The American Academy of Pediatrics would do well to be reminded that, as its name says, this is America. Our rights are not granted to us by the government. They come to us from God. The right to refuse any drug we choose lies at the core of individual liberty. A religious exemption should not even be necessary. People should consult with their doctor and make the decision that is best for them and their child. At this point, it is pretty hard to tell what purpose is driving the AAP, but it is definitely not the health and well-being of the pediatric population.
As a trade association, it can be assumed they are trying to protect the financial well-being of their members or perhaps are responding to pressure from their Big Pharma donors. They represent the third-party interests that have progressively infiltrated our healthcare system for some time. Their primary goal is not the patient’s health, and the poor results speak for themselves. As a rural primary care doctor, I am hungry for trusted sources of information that provide recommendations based on gold standard science free from outside influence.
My patients and their parents are hungry for the same. The AAP now represents just one more in the long list of sources that cannot be relied upon. They, too, have been captured by special interests. The fact that these agencies are the subject of fierce political debate is indicative of how debased their guidance has become. It should give us hope that the AAP and other special interest groups are opposing the changes at CDC and HHS. That is a good sign that the Trump administration is on the right track. We must restore these agencies to their historic stature as the global standard-bearers for reliable medical information. The health of our nation and the world depends on it. Let us rally around President Trump and Secretary Kennedy in this pivotal mission.
