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Children's Health Defense

U.S. anti-vaccine / medical-skepticism advocacy

Owned byIndependent 501(c)(3) nonprofit; not owned by any media company. Founded and chaired for years by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who stepped down as chairman in 2024 during his presidential run; Mary Holland (a longtime CHD attorney and board member) leads the organization as CEO/president.
FundingIndividual donations, some funneled through donor-advised funds (e.g., Fidelity Charitable, Vanguard Charitable) that obscure the identity of underlying donors, plus merchandise sales, conference fees, and book/media sales. Revenue peaked near $23.5 million in 2022 before dropping to about $16 million.
On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

CHD traces its roots to the World Mercury Project, founded around 2007 by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others to raise concerns about a possible link between vaccines and autism; it was rebranded Children's Health Defense in 2018. Under Kennedy's leadership the group grew into one of the most prominent anti-vaccine organizations in the U.S., publishing articles, films, and a newsletter ('The Defender') that regularly promote vaccine-safety claims rejected by mainstream medicine and public-health agencies. It has filed numerous lawsuits against government agencies, media companies, and tech platforms over vaccine mandates and content moderation, and was banned or restricted by Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms for spreading health misinformation, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kennedy stepped back from day-to-day leadership in 2024 to run for president and later became U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the second Trump administration; Mary Holland, a longtime CHD attorney, took over as head of the organization. The group's revenue grew sharply during the pandemic years, reaching roughly $23.5 million in 2022, before falling by about 30% to around $16 million amid Kennedy's departure and shifting donor patterns. In September 2026, Kennedy returned to headline a CHD conference in Washington as sitting Health Secretary, underscoring the organization's continued influence over administration health policy. Independent fact-checkers and public-health bodies have repeatedly identified CHD as a leading source of vaccine misinformation.

Sources

  1. Children's Health Defense - Wikipedia
  2. RFK Jr. to deliver speech at Children's Health Defense conference | STAT
  3. How Children's Health Defense plans to cement its agenda beyond RFK Jr.
  4. Children's Health Defense Welcomes Mary Holland Back Following RFK Jr. Presidential Campaign Kickoff
  5. RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine group lost $3 million last year - NBC News
  6. Funding Children's Health Defense: Key Contributors Listed
  7. Inside RFK Jr.'s nonprofit's legal battles over vaccines and public health - NPR

Profile compiled 2026-09-25; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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