The American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s revised childhood vaccine schedule, while both organizations face renewed scrutiny over financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies that manufacture vaccines and other drugs.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics are opposing President Donald Trump’s newly revised childhood vaccine schedule, but their criticism is drawing attention to financial relationships both organizations have maintained with major pharmaceutical companies.
The issue was examined in a Just the News report, which detailed revenue, grants and corporate support involving medical organizations that continue to advocate for broader childhood vaccination.
Trump signed an executive order reducing the childhood vaccine schedule to 11 core vaccinations targeting what the administration considers the most serious diseases. The change removed recommendations for COVID-19 and influenza vaccines while leaving the measles vaccine in place.
The order also recommended separating the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three individual shots administered at different times rather than eliminating measles vaccination.
The AMA responded shortly afterward with a statement warning that changes to the existing schedule could endanger children.
“Vaccines are among the most thoroughly studied, effective tools we have to protect children from serious vaccine-preventable diseases,” AMA President Willie Underwood III said in the organization’s statement. “Decisions about how and when vaccines are used should be driven by rigorous scientific evidence, patient safety, and independent medical and public health expertise. Altering a proven vaccination schedule without credible evidence risks weakening public confidence and putting children’s health at risk.”
Underwood also pointed parents toward the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations.
“It’s important to know, the American Academy of Pediatrics childhood immunization schedule continues to recommend immunizations based on specific disease risks and healthcare delivery in the U.S. Extensive evidence from decades of scientific studies shows no link between vaccines and autism. If you have questions about vaccines, talk to your child’s physician. Putting our children’s health at risk is not an option,” he added.
The AMA’s position has prompted renewed attention to the organization’s commercial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry.
The association maintains and licenses physician-profile information that has been sold to drug companies for tens of millions of dollars. Pharmaceutical companies can combine those physician profiles with prescribing information obtained from Health Information Organizations and use the resulting data to market brand-name drugs to doctors.
The AMA states that it “does not collect, license, sell or have access to physician prescribing data.” Its physician database, however, can be paired with prescribing data obtained elsewhere and then used by pharmaceutical companies.
Physicians may opt out of the AMA system, but participation is structured on an opt-out rather than opt-in basis, meaning physicians can be included unless they take steps to remove themselves.
Questions about the organization’s relationship with drug manufacturers predate the current vaccine debate.
Mother Jones reported in 2021 that “the AMA upholds the sacred doctor-patient relationship, its pharmaceutical funding and dependence on commercial revenue streams make it virtually impossible to discern where public health guidance ends and industry interests begin.”
According to that report, the AMA and its 501(c)(4), the AMA Foundation, received more than $3 million from Purdue Pharma between 2002 and 2018.
The AMA stopped taking direct funding from Purdue in 2007, but continued offering the pharmaceutical company’s pain-management course through 2014. The AMA Foundation continued accepting Purdue donations until 2018. Purdue ceased operations in May.
The AMA’s finances extend well beyond those earlier donations.
Its 2024 federal tax filing shows the organization generated more than $540 million in revenue.
Between 2010 and 2014, the AMA also received nearly $1 million in grants from pharmaceutical companies, with Pfizer providing the largest share.
The American Academy of Pediatrics issued its own warning after Trump’s executive order, calling the revised vaccine policy “dangerous.”
“As measles cases reach a 35-year high in the U.S. and with cold and flu season quickly approaching, today’s executive order on vaccines is not only disheartening but dangerous. Instead of ensuring every family can access life-saving vaccines for measles, influenza, RSV and more, federal leaders are once again spreading misleading claims,” AAP President Andrew Racine said.
Trump’s order, however, did not eliminate measles vaccination. It proposed separating the combined MMR shot into individual measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations administered at different times.
The AAP has also accepted support from pharmaceutical companies whose products fall within the broader vaccine and drug markets it addresses through policy recommendations.
A report by Undark Magazine described the organization’s Corporate Summit, where participation costs $50,000 and attendees have included representatives from Pfizer, Merck, Moderna and Sanofi.
Undark, a nonprofit publication covering science and society, also reported that the AAP receives corporate financial support.
The academy itself lists corporate and organizational supporters, although the amounts contributed by individual sponsors are not publicly disclosed.
The financial ties do not by themselves establish that pharmaceutical companies determine the organizations’ vaccine recommendations. They do, however, form part of the broader debate over whether groups presenting themselves as independent medical authorities should more fully disclose and address potential conflicts when commenting on policies affecting products made by their corporate supporters.
That question has become more prominent as the AMA and AAP challenge a federal vaccine policy that reduces the number of recommended childhood immunizations while both organizations maintain financial or institutional relationships with pharmaceutical companies active in vaccine production.
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