Children’s Health Defense: Lawsuits, Funding, and Political Reach

Children’s Health Defense is a U.S. nonprofit founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that challenges vaccine mandates and federal health agencies through lawsuits, publishes vaccine-skeptical media, and lobbies on children’s health and environmental issues. It began in 2016 as the World Mercury Project, rebranded in 2018, and has grown into one of the most prominent organizations in the American anti-vaccine movement. Kennedy resigned as chairman in December 2024 to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services; the group now operates under CEO Mary Holland.¹

Where It Came From

The organization launched in 2016 as the World Mercury Project, co-founded by Kennedy with Eric Gladen, Lyn Redwood, and Laura Bono. Its original mission was narrow: ending exposure to mercury in fish, medical products, dental amalgams, and vaccines.² Kennedy had joined the project in 2015, lending his family name and legal background.³

In September 2018 the group changed its name to Children’s Health Defense and broadened its stated scope to all toxic environmental factors affecting children. In practice, vaccine skepticism became its dominant focus. The Center for Countering Digital Hate later placed CHD among the “Disinformation Dozen,” a group of twelve entities it cited as top superspreaders of COVID-19 misinformation online.⁴

Who Runs It

Kennedy served as chairman and chief litigation counsel until April 2023, when he took leave to run for president. He formally resigned on December 9, 2024, writing that he was severing his “legal connection with Children’s Health Defense.”¹ He was then confirmed as HHS Secretary under the Trump administration.

Mary Holland, an attorney who had been the organization’s president, is now CEO. Michelle Walrath became board chair in September 2024, replacing Kay Sullivan.⁵ CHD describes its work in four pillars: litigation, education, science, and advocacy. It runs more than twenty volunteer state chapters that lobby on local vaccine legislation, with a focus on religious, medical, and philosophical exemptions.⁶

The Lawsuits

Litigation is the center of CHD’s strategy. The organization has filed close to thirty federal and state lawsuits since 2020, targeting vaccine mandates, emergency use authorizations, alleged government censorship, and federal regulators. Many have lost. Dorit Reiss, a law professor who tracks anti-vaccine litigation, said CHD uses lawsuits to “give legitimacy to anti-vaccine claims” regardless of outcome.³

Vaccine Mandate Cases

In 2019, CHD unsuccessfully sued New York State over school vaccine requirements during a measles outbreak. During the pandemic, it filed suits against COVID-19 vaccine mandates for New York City healthcare workers and Rutgers University students. The Rutgers case was lost after a court ruled the university did not violate students’ rights by requiring vaccination.³

CHD also tried to revoke the FDA’s emergency use authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for children, filing a citizen petition in May 2021 and, after its denial, a federal suit in January 2022. The Western District of Texas dismissed the case for lack of standing, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed in January 2024, holding that an organization cannot “spend its way to standing” through litigation costs.⁷

The Meta Case

CHD sued Meta Platforms, Mark Zuckerberg, and the Poynter Institute, alleging Facebook censored its posts at the direction of federal officials. The suit raised First Amendment, Lanham Act, and RICO claims.⁸ The Northern District of California dismissed, and in August 2024 the Ninth Circuit affirmed, finding that Meta’s moderation came from its own policies and business incentives rather than government coercion. The Supreme Court denied review on June 30, 2025, leaving the dismissal in place.⁹

The Fluoride Case

CHD was involved in a Toxic Substances Control Act suit against the EPA over fluoride in drinking water. In September 2024, Senior Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California found that fluoride at federally recommended levels poses “an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children” and ordered the EPA to begin rulemaking. It was the first time a court had ordered EPA to initiate TSCA rulemaking after a denied citizen petition.¹⁰

The Ninth Circuit vacated that ruling in May 2026, finding Judge Chen had overstepped by demanding new evidence and effectively conducting a second trial. The appeals court remanded the case for a decision on the record as it existed in August 2020. The ruling did not address the underlying science and sets no precedent.¹⁰

Other Active Litigation

A FOIA suit against the CDC seeking records tied to the VAERS vaccine-safety database remains open. In July 2024, a federal judge in the District of Columbia stayed proceedings for six months, citing similar stays issued by other judges in the district.¹¹ CHD also provides legal support to physicians facing state medical board investigations over ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. The Supreme Court rejected its request to intervene in one such Washington State case.³

What It Publishes

CHD runs a sizable media operation. Its flagship publication, The Defender, is a daily newsletter and website on vaccines, environmental exposures, and federal agencies; the outlet claims hundreds of thousands of subscribers.¹² CHD.TV streams daily programming, documentaries, and hearing coverage, distributed through Rumble and X.¹³ CHD Films has released several documentaries, including “Vaxxed III: Authorized to Kill” in 2024 and “Medical Racism: The New Apartheid” in 2022.¹⁴

The organization’s social reach climbed sharply during the pandemic. By early 2022, Kennedy’s personal Twitter account had 408,000 followers and the main CHD account had 104,000, both having more than doubled since January 2021. Verified-account shares of CHD content on Twitter rose by over 9,000 percent between Q3 2020 and Q4 2021.¹⁵

In August 2022, Meta permanently removed CHD’s main Facebook and Instagram accounts for “repeatedly” violating platform policies on medical misinformation during COVID-19. The pages had over 500,000 combined followers at the time.⁴ Kennedy himself had been removed from Instagram in 2021 and suspended from YouTube in March 2021.¹⁵ Several state chapters stayed on Facebook and Instagram after the national bans.¹⁶

How Its Claims Have Been Assessed

CHD has been widely identified as a leading source of false and misleading claims about vaccines, including the repeatedly debunked assertion that vaccines cause autism. The organization financed a 2020 sequel to the “Plandemic” video, which baselessly alleged the COVID-19 pandemic was planned as part of a global conspiracy. In 2021 it released a film that targeted Black Americans with disproven claims about vaccines.³

NewsGuard, the media credibility rating service, has reported that the CHD website “has published false and unproven scientific and health information, including about Covid-19 vaccines.”¹⁵ FactCheck.org’s SciCheck team has addressed claims common to CHD’s narratives, including misuse of Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System data to overstate vaccine risks, the claim that COVID-19 vaccines were never tested in large randomized trials, and assertions that the vaccines serve a depopulation agenda.¹⁷

Where the Money Comes From

CHD is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and its finances tracked the pandemic. Revenue stood at about $1.1 million in 2018, the year of the rebrand, then climbed to $6.8 million in 2020, $16 million in 2021, and $23.5 million in 2022. It fell to $16.1 million in 2023 and $15.2 million in 2024, with expenses outpacing income in both years.⁵

Contributions make up more than 90 percent of revenue. Much of it flows through donor-advised funds, which CHD openly promotes on its website as a way for contributors to give with “complete anonymity.” The group has confirmed arrangements with Fidelity Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, and National Philanthropic Trust to facilitate anonymous giving.¹⁸ Tax filings have identified the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program as donating over $500,000, and the William H. Donner Foundation as making two $100,000 gifts earmarked for lawsuits.¹⁹

Kennedy earned $326,000 for fifteen weeks of work as chairman in 2023, down from $510,000 the year before. Holland earned $180,000 in 2023 and $238,523 in 2024.¹⁹⁵ Organization-wide salary spending rose from $5.6 million in 2022 to $9.8 million in 2023, even as revenue was declining.

Political Reach After Kennedy’s Confirmation

Kennedy’s move to HHS placed CHD and its allies close to federal health policy. Holland told STAT News that the organization is playing a “long game” to institutionalize its policy goals so they outlast Kennedy’s tenure. CHD’s stated objectives include overhauling the childhood vaccination schedule, reformulating vaccines, and abolishing mandates.²⁰

In March 2026, CHD registered federal lobbyists for the first time, hiring AxAdvocacy Government Relations to oppose proposals that would fast-track wireless infrastructure expansion. The group has long raised concerns about electromagnetic radiation, and in 2021 obtained a court order requiring the FCC to conduct a more thorough safety review of wireless radiation. Under Kennedy’s HHS, the department has launched a study on wireless radiation, and the FDA has removed website content that previously stated wireless radiation is not dangerous.²¹

A broader political operation, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) network, runs in parallel to CHD. Led by Tony Lyons, a publisher of Kennedy’s books, it includes the MAHA PAC, MAHA Action (a 501(c)(4)), the MAHA Institute, and MAHA Holdings. Lyons and Mark Gorton, both MAHA leaders, also sit on CHD’s board.²² MAHA Action sponsored a recent CHD conference in Austin, Texas, and board member Leigh Merinoff serves on both boards.²³

The MAHA PAC has committed $1 million to Louisiana Representative Julia Letlow’s Senate primary campaign against Bill Cassidy and plans to back up to twenty Republican candidates in the coming midterms. More than 40 percent of the PAC’s 2025 donations came from the biopharma industry. Kennedy and HHS have said he has no affiliation with these PACs.²³

1
Children’s Health Defense. RFK Jr. Resigns as Chairman of Children’s Health Defense
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Children’s Health Defense. History of CHD
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NPR. RFK Jr. Anti-Vaccine CHD Lawsuits
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The New York Times. Facebook, Instagram Ban Major Anti-Vaccine Group
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ProPublica. Children’s Health Defense Nonprofit Explorer
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Children’s Health Defense. About Us
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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Children’s Health Defense v. FDA
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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Children’s Health Defense v. Meta Platforms
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NBC News. Supreme Court Turns Away Online Censorship Claim
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E&E News. Court Overturns Landmark Fluoride Ruling, Sides With EPA
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U.S. Department of Justice. Children’s Health Defense v. CDC, No. 23-00431
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Children’s Health Defense. The Defender
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Children’s Health Defense. CHD TV
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Children’s Health Defense. CHD Films
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German Marshall Fund of the United States. Daily Wire, Children’s Health Defense Capitalize on Vaccine-Hesitant Messaging
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Le Monde. Facebook, Instagram Ban Major US Anti-Vaccine Group
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FactCheck.org. Children’s Health Defense Tag Page
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Children’s Health Defense. Donor-Advised Funds
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NBC News. RFK Jr. Children’s Health Defense Tax Revenue Loss
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STAT News. RFK Jr. Children’s Health Defense Plans Long-Term Influence in Washington
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Politico. Children’s Health Defense Lobbies Up
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Children’s Health Defense. MAHA Who’s Who of Groups
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Politico. RFK MAHA Lyons PAC Midterms