DOJ Tried To Get Names And Social Security Numbers Of Trans Kids
The DOJ issued a subpoena to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in June. It requested doctors' emails, texts, social media and Zoom recordings dating to January 2020, long before any state legislature in the United States had passed a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, The Washington Post first reported.
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The subpoena was made public this week in a court filing by the Washington state attorney general's office. Washington State Attorney General Nicholas W. Brown sued the Trump administration in January to block two executive orders that tried to withhold federal funding from institutions that offered gender-affirming care.
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Brown wrote in court documents that he included the subpoena to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia because President Donald Trump has 'only escalated' his attacks since a federal judge initially blocked Trump's efforts to curb youth gender care in March.
Last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Justice Department had issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics that it said 'mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology.' It was not clear at the time what information the government was seeking from these health care providers.
DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The subpoenas were sent to health care institutions in both states where gender care has been banned and states that have shield laws protecting access to such care. The investigations, legal and health care experts told HuffPost, are part of the Trump administration's attempt to build a case to allege that medical providers may have violated criminal statutes and engaged in fraud.
News of the subpoenas, along with the Supreme Court's decision to uphold Tennessee's law banning gender-affirming care in June, sowed chaos and confusion in hospitals around the country.
At least 25 hospitals and health care networks across the United States have ended or restricted gender-affirming care services for trans youth since July, HuffPost found in an independent count. None of these hospitals are in the 26 states that have bans on care.
Jacob T. Elberg, a former federal prosecutor specializing in health care, told The Washington Post that the government was using its authority 'to target medical providers based on a disagreement about medical treatment rather than violations of the law.' Elberg also noted that under federal privacy law, the DOJ must show that there is a legitimate law enforcement probe to account for information on patient identities.
Alex Sheldon, the executive director of GLMA, an organization of LGBTQ+ health professionals, told HuffPost that the subpoenas are 'intended to send a chilling message to everyone, from patients to providers, that they are not safe, not even in the exam room. This is definitely not an element of law enforcement. It's a targeted political retaliation.'
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While efforts to cull sensitive medical data are unprecedented by the federal government, they mirror the actions taken by Republican officials in Texas and Tennessee.
In September 2022, Tennessee's attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, opened an investigation into the state's largest provider of pediatric gender care, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Skrmetti requested private medical records of more than 150 patients who used TennCare, the state's Medicaid plan, as well as billing codes, queries into specific doctors and information about the hospital's volunteer program to pair trans youth with peer support from students and community members.
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Skrmetti's investigation came one day after right-wing blogger Matt Walsh posted allegations on social media that Vanderbilt doctors 'castrate, sterilize, and mutilate minors.' Tennessee state Republicans later passed a ban on gender-affirming care for youth, citing Walsh's posts.
The Supreme Court upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care in a decision this June. Several families of transgender youth had sued Skrmetti, claiming that the state law violated the families' constitutional protections. The conservative majority ruled that the law did not discriminate 'on the basis of transgender status.'
Similarly, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton initiated investigations into out-of-state gender care providers. He alleged that those hospitals were providing care to minors from Texas, where such care is prohibited.
Earlier this month, a coalition of 16 states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit to try to block the federal government's investigations into hospitals across the U.S.
'The federal government is running a cruel and targeted harassment campaign against providers who offer lawful, lifesaving care to children,' New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the states in the suit, said in a statement. 'This administration is ruthlessly targeting young people who already face immense barriers just to be seen and heard, and are putting countless lives at risk in the process.'
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FACT FOCUS: A look at RFK Jr.'s misleading claims on US dietary guidelines and Froot Loops
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Where Do We Stand on COVID Vaccine Recommendations in 2025?
This transcript has been edited for clarity. This edition of Medicine Matters takes a closer look at the future of COVID vaccines for fall 2025. The current status of COVID vaccines can be best described as unclear. There is confusion, conflicts of interest, and chaos. A lot has happened, so here is a brief recap of major developments over the past few months. New COVID Vaccine Approvals and a New Vaccine Formula On May 22, the FDA announced the new COVID vaccine formula, a monovalent JN.1 lineage — preferably using the LP.8.1 strain. On May 16, the FDA fully licensed the Novavax COVID vaccine but limited its use to those 65 or older, and to those aged 12-64 years with at least one high-risk medical condition. Later in May, these same restrictions were applied to the approval of Moderna's new lower-dose mRNA COVID vaccine, mNEXSPIKE. FDA's 'New' Way of Evaluating COVID Vaccines On May 20, in a sounding board article in The New England Journal of Medicine , the FDA Commissioner, Martin Makary, MD, MPH, and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director, Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, announced new changes on how FDA would evaluate COVID vaccines. Additional clinical trials, including placebo-controlled trials using a saline placebo, would be required. They said the FDA anticipates that it will make favorable risk-benefit findings for adults 65 or older and for those 6 months or older with one or more risk factors that put them at high risk for severe COVID outcomes. Both pregnancy and recent pregnancy were on their list of underlying medical conditions that increase a person's risk for severe COVID. HHS Secretary Kennedy Issues His Own COVID Vaccine Directive One week later, on May 27, HHS Secretary Kennedy issued his own directive and unilaterally removed COVID vaccines from the immunization schedule for healthy children and for pregnant women. He made this announcement on social media. No new evidence was cited to support this decision. Absent from this announcement was any representative from the CDC or ACIP. Kennedy's actions triggered the resignation of several key and well-respected CDC employees in the COVID vaccine space. I've served on ACIP's COVID vaccine work group since the beginning. Our work group had not been consulted. In fact, work group meetings had been suspended. ACIP Members Ousted Before June Meeting Updated COVID vaccine recommendations had been expected to be on the June ACIP meeting agenda. But on June 9, just 2 weeks prior to the June ACIP meeting, HHS Secretary Kennedy removed all 17 ACIP members and then replaced them with his own handpicked group of eight — many of whom have preconceived bias against vaccines. At the June meeting, there was not a vote on COVID vaccines. However, CDC staff did present updates on COVID epidemiology. Here are some highlights: Most pediatric hospitalizations (57%) occur in children less than 2 years of age. Most hospitalized children in this age group have no underlying medical conditions. Rates of COVID-associated hospitalizations are highest among infants less than 6 months of age, followed by those aged 6-23 months. None of the COVID vaccine products are approved for infants under 6 months of age, so protection can only come from maternal antibodies. The majority (89%) of children and adolescents hospitalized for COVID had not received a dose of the most recently recommended vaccine. These data show why Kennedy's directive to withhold COVID vaccines from children and pregnant women is so absolutely ridiculous. FDA Mandates, Restrictions, and Authorizations Also on June 25, the FDA mandated a label change for COVID vaccines, warning about risk for myocarditis — but did not mention that the risk for myocarditis from COVID infection is greater than the risk for myocarditis after COVID vaccination. In July, more restrictions were placed on COVID vaccines for young children. Moderna's mRNA COVID vaccine, Spikevax, was FDA-approved for everyone aged 65 years or older. Spikevax was also approved for individuals aged 6 months to 64 years old, but only those with at least one medical condition that puts them at increased risk for COVID. Then in August, news reports indicated that Pfizer's COVID vaccine may lose its emergency use authorization for healthy children under the age of 5 years. Although it was expected to be available for children aged 5-11 years, no official announcement has been made. To be clear, if the FDA doesn't renew Pfizer's authorization (or fully approve the vaccine) for children 6 months through 4 years old, healthy children in that age group will have no officially sanctioned option for COVID vaccination. The only way to administer COVID vaccination to healthy children would be to give the Moderna vaccines off-label. If that happens, we could end up having a vaccine shortage. And COVID hasn't gone away. On August 5, CDC's wastewater analysis showed that COVID-19 infections were growing or likely growing in 45 states — indicating a late summer COVID wave. Medical Organizations Step Up to the Plate On August 19, the Vaccine Integrity Project released "From Data to Decisions: The Evidence Base for 2025 Fall/Winter Immunizations." This livestream presentation looked at recently published and publicly available data and found no notable safety or effectiveness issues. Also on August 19, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued its own evidence-based immunization schedule for children. For COVID protection, AAP recommends the COVID vaccine for infants and children 6 months through 23 months of age — recognizing that children in this age group are at highest risk for severe COVID. AAP also recommends a single dose of age-appropriate COVID vaccine for all children and adolescents age 2 through 18 years in the following risk groups: Children at high risk for severe COVID Residents of long-term care facilities or other congregate settings Children who've never been vaccinated against COVID Children with household contacts at high risk for severe COVID AAP also recommends that the COVID vaccine be available for children aged 2-18 years who do not fall into these risk groups, but whose parent or guardian desires them to have the protection of the vaccine. AAP recommends that the most updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine available should be used. We can likely expect more medical organizations to issue recommendations based on this new Vaccine Integrity Project review. Concern About the Integrity of Future COVID Vaccination Recommendations According to the ACIP website, another ACIP meeting is planned for August/September, but no date is currently given. We can only hope there will be a truly evidence-based vote on the new-formula COVID vaccines — but I'm not optimistic. On July 31, HHS Secretary Kennedy removed ACIP liaisons from the vaccine work groups. These work groups review vaccine data and develop recommendations that are then presented to ACIP at the public meetings for vote. Now, the work groups are populated only with Kennedy's new ACIP members — most of whom have a proven history of bias against vaccines — and CDC staff that could ostensibly be fired by Kennedy if they don't do what he says. Without liaisons and work groups, we have no way of ensuring that evidence-based science is being applied as these work group recommendations are developed and presented to the full ACIP. To make matters worse, Kennedy recently cut nearly $500 million in research funding aimed at developing better mRNA vaccines; 22 research grants for COVID and flu vaccines were targeted. The reason he gave for these cuts was that vaccines made using this platform were not effective and were unsafe. That's not true. The head of the NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, offered another explanation for the cancellation. He said the platform wasn't viable because the public doesn't trust it. These cancellations leave us highly vulnerable for the next pandemic — and there will eventually be one. It also puts development of lifesaving mRNA-based cancer treatments at risk. Misinformation Can Be Dangerous On Friday, August 8, a shooter unleashed nearly 500 rounds at CDC buildings in Atlanta. One security officer was killed. The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities found documents in his house expressing discontent with COVID vaccines. Susan Monarez, the new CDC director, was quoted in news reports as saying, "We know that misinformation can be dangerous..." As we also know, Kennedy has been most prominent in spreading misinformation and voicing distrust of vaccines, long before he even became HHS secretary. The case against mRNA technology offered by Kennedy and his new team is unbound by science or evidence. The attack on mRNA vaccines is unscientific foolishness perpetuated by people with a bias against vaccines. They use scientific words in a most unscientific way to create misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, confusion, and mistrust. The recent shooting at CDC is an example of mistrust fueled by vaccine skeptics. Let's not forget it was mRNA vaccines, developed in 1 year through Operation Warp Speed, that saved the world during the COVID pandemic. Billions of doses of mRNA COVID vaccines have been administered worldwide, making them among the most studied vaccines in history. mRNA vaccines are safe and effective. No other vaccine platform can produce vaccines so quickly. HHS Secretary Kennedy's assault on the viability of ACIP and the destruction of our vaccine development infrastructure continue. We still don't have any ACIP recommendations for updated COVID vaccines for fall. We still don't have a date set for the August/September ACIP meeting, and when that meeting date is set, will a vote on COVID vaccines be on that agenda? And if it is, will it be truly evidence-based? The CDC and the HHS secretary are supposed to put forward vaccine policy that can bring health and happiness and prevent death and illness in our country. America's physicians must stand up for our patients, as should everyone who believes in public health. We must push back on misinformation, medical foolishness, and quackery. And the chain of events I have described in this segment is exactly that. Misinformation leads to mistrust in vaccines, mistrust reduces vaccine uptake, and reduced vaccine uptake sickens and kills our patients.
