Federal Judge Blocks RFK Jr. Plan to Scale Back Childhood Vaccine Recommendations
A federal judge in Boston on Monday temporarily blocked U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plan to scale back the nation’s childhood vaccination recommendations, ruling that his overhaul of a key federal vaccine advisory panel likely violated federal law.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy halted policy changes announced earlier this year that sought to end broad recommendations for children to receive vaccines against several diseases, including influenza, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, certain forms of meningitis, and respiratory syncytial virus, commonly known as RSV.
The order also suspends appointments Kennedy made to a newly restructured federal advisory group that helps guide the country’s vaccine policy, placing the panel’s members and any decisions made under its new structure on hold while the lawsuit proceeds.
Several leading medical organizations challenged the move in federal court, arguing that both the policy shifts and the restructuring of a key advisory panel violated federal law and could weaken long-standing public health protections for children. Among the groups involved is the American Academy of Pediatrics, which had previously sued over Kennedy’s decision to stop recommending COVID 19 vaccinations for most children and pregnant women.
As additional revisions to vaccine guidance followed, the medical groups expanded their lawsuit to challenge those actions as well. According to the amended complaint, one of the central disputes involves Kennedy’s decision to dismiss the entire 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP, and replace it with a new group that includes several figures who have questioned vaccine use.
ACIP is an expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on which vaccines should be recommended to doctors and patients across the United States.
The judge wrote that the sweeping changes to the committee likely violated federal law governing how such advisory bodies operate, finding that the restructuring appeared to disregard requirements intended to ensure balanced expertise and proper procedures.
Federal courts often review decisions made by government agencies to confirm officials follow required steps when changing national policy. These rules are designed to promote transparency and prevent agencies from making major policy changes without proper review or input. When a court finds those steps may not have been followed, it can pause the policy while the legal challenge moves forward.
Advisory panels such as ACIP must also follow federal transparency rules intended to preserve independence and scientific expertise. The lawsuit argues that removing the entire panel undermined those safeguards, raising questions about whether the recommendations reflect a balanced range of medical and scientific expertise.
Kennedy announced the revisions earlier this year as part of a broader review of federal vaccine guidance. The revised recommendations would significantly narrow the list of vaccines routinely advised for children in the United States, according to the lawsuit.
Murphy’s order pauses work by the newly restructured advisory panel, which had been scheduled to meet this week to discuss COVID-19 vaccine policy and other immunization issues. That meeting has been postponed following the court’s decision, as the lawsuit continues in federal court in Boston, where the medical organizations are seeking a permanent ruling blocking the policy changes.
