AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into the American Academy of Pediatrics, alleging the organization may have promoted childhood vaccines for financial gain.
According to a Wednesday announcement from Paxton’s office, the investigation centers on whether the nation’s largest professional association of pediatricians issued vaccine recommendations influenced by financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies rather than scientific evidence.
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The attorney general’s office said it has issued a Civil Investigative Demand, or CID, seeking information about the basis for the organization’s vaccine recommendations and its role in shaping childhood immunization guidance.
The investigation follows changes made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the federal childhood vaccine schedule.
According to the release, the American Academy of Pediatrics had worked alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations for decades to develop and promote the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule. After Kennedy restructured the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the organization sued HHS in 2025, arguing the changes lacked a scientific basis.
The attorney general’s office also noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics published its own immunization schedule in August 2025 and encouraged insurers to cover all vaccines it recommended.
Paxton alleges the organization’s top corporate donors include pharmaceutical companies that could face financial losses if fewer vaccines are recommended under the revised federal schedule. The investigation will examine whether those financial relationships influenced the organization’s recommendations.
“Parents deserve vaccine recommendations that are driven by science and the best interests of their children, not by financial gains or bribes from Big Pharma,” Paxton said in a statement. “If the American Academy of Pediatrics is giving medical guidance that is fueled by financial incentives, we will expose and put an end to this unlawful behavior.”
The announcement says the investigation builds on a broader inquiry Paxton launched in January into pediatric medical providers, insurance companies, vaccine manufacturers and other entities over what his office describes as potentially deceptive recommendations related to childhood vaccines.
The attorney general’s office has not announced any findings or allegations of wrongdoing against the American Academy of Pediatrics. The investigation remains ongoing.