Children's Health Defense
U.S. populist right, anti-vaccine / alternative health
Background
Children's Health Defense began as the World Mercury Project in 2007, an organization focused on the alleged links between mercury in vaccines and childhood health problems. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became its chairman in 2015 and rebranded it as Children's Health Defense, broadening its focus to pesticides, electromagnetic radiation, pharmaceutical industry influence, and vaccine safety broadly. The organization grew rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic — its revenue roughly doubled to $6.8 million in 2020 and climbed to $23.5 million in 2022 — as its anti-vaccine messaging reached a wide online audience. Public health researchers and fact-checkers identified CHD as one of the top sources of vaccine misinformation during the pandemic. Kennedy left as chairman in 2023 to run for president, handing leadership to CEO Mary Holland; he had been paid more than $20,000 per week in his final period at the organization. After Kennedy was nominated by President Trump and confirmed as HHS Secretary in February 2025, CHD shifted into a role as an unofficial ally of the administration, cheering policy moves such as the reduction of the CDC's recommended childhood vaccine schedule from 17 to 11 vaccines and the launch of the Make Our Children Healthy Again strategy. The organization's news arm, The Defender, consistently covers Kennedy's HHS tenure favorably and promotes the broader MAHA agenda, while revenue has declined from its pandemic-era highs.
Sources
- Children's Health Defense — Wikipedia
- Children's Health Defense — Media Bias/Fact Check
- RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine group lost $3 million last year — NBC News
- RFK Jr. was paid six figures by his vaccine-challenging group before presidential run — STAT News
- How Children's Health Defense plans to cement its agenda beyond RFK Jr. — STAT News
- Children's Health Defense — ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
- How a Kennedy built an anti-vaccine juggernaut amid COVID-19 — NBC Boston
Profile compiled 2026-06-26; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.