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A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked sweeping changes to the nation’s childhood vaccine recommendations ordered by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., finding the move likely violated federal procedures.
The ruling also halted a planned meeting of a newly restructured federal vaccine advisory panel, marking a significant legal setback for the Department of Health and Human Services as it seeks to overhaul longstanding immunization policy.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy said Kennedy’s actions to scale back routine vaccine recommendations for children — including immunizations against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A and B, certain meningitis strains and RSV — could not proceed while the case is litigated.
Advisory committee overhaul frozen
Murphy also ordered a pause on Kennedy’s reconstitution of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices(ACIP), a key federal panel that guides vaccine recommendations nationwide.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic before taking office, dismissed the panel’s 17 members last year and replaced them with new appointees, including several critics of established vaccine policies.
The judge found that overhaul likely ran afoul of federal law and ordered both the appointments and any decisions made by the reconstituted committee put on hold.
As a result, an ACIP meeting scheduled this week in Atlanta — where members were set to discuss COVID-19 vaccine safety — was canceled.
“ACIP as currently constituted cannot meet,” said Richard Hughes IV, an attorney representing the American Academy of Pediatrics, one of the plaintiffs in the case.
Lawsuit expands amid policy shifts
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed last year by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical organizations, initially challenging Kennedy’s move to roll back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women.
Plaintiffs later expanded the case as the administration pursued broader changes to the childhood vaccination schedule and advisory process.
Medical groups argued the revisions were not grounded in scientific evidence and warned they could create confusion among doctors and patients.
Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the judge’s order should provide clarity.
“If anyone has any questions about what’s the appropriate vaccine schedule for their children, the best thing to do is to talk to their pediatricians,” he said.
Government signals appeal
Federal health officials quickly signaled they would challenge the ruling.
“HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned,” said department spokesman Andrew Nixon, criticizing the court’s intervention in administration policy.
The order is temporary and will remain in place pending further legal proceedings, including a potential trial or summary judgment decision.
Unprecedented disruption to vaccine panel
Experts said the legal halt of an ACIP meeting is highly unusual.
Jason Schwartz, a vaccine policy specialist at Yale University, called the situation “unprecedented” in the committee’s more than six-decade history.
Meanwhile, Robert Malone, one of Kennedy’s appointees to the panel, urged the administration to continue pursuing the policy changes, writing that the court order represents “a delay, not a defeat.”
Broader impact
The dispute has intensified tensions between federal health officials and major medical organizations, with at least 30 states rejecting parts of the revised vaccine guidance and continuing to follow prior recommendations.
The case is expected to play a central role in determining how much authority federal officials have to reshape vaccine policy — and how courts weigh scientific consensus against administrative discretion.
