- A federal judge has struck down childhood vaccination recommendations implemented earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
- The judge also blocked HHS Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointments to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
- Medical professionals praised the judge’s ruling, saying vaccinations are vital in preventing diseases in children.
A federal judge has overturned new childhood vaccination policies implemented earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ruled that federal health officials under the leadership of HHS Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had acted unlawfully when they issued new childhood vaccination recommendations in January.
Those guidelines reduce the number of childhood vaccinations, indicating vaccination against 11 diseases instead of the 16 diseases recommended under prior guidelines. The HHS policies also downgraded childhood immunization recommendations for other diseases, including rotavirus, influenza, and hepatitis A.
In his ruling, Murphy said that previous childhood vaccination recommendations had been made through “a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements.”
The judge said that HHS officials had “disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.”
Murphy also ruled that Health Secretary Kennedy’s appointments to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) were not lawfully constituted, and blocked Kennedy’s 13 appointees to the panel.
The plaintiffs in the case argued that the committee had become dominated by people aligned with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views and was constituted in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act’s mandates that it be fairly balanced and free of inappropriate influence.
After the ruling was issued on March 16, ACIP meetings scheduled for this week were postponed. The panel was scheduled to discuss potential changes to recommendations regarding COVID-19 vaccines.
In addition, the judge had put a hold on votes taken by ACIP members since June. That includes a December decision by the panel to roll back recommendations that newborns receive a first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal Murphy’s ruling.
The lawsuit challenging the HHS childhood vaccination recommendations was brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other major medical groups.
“Today’s ruling is a historic and welcome outcome for children, communities, and pediatricians everywhere,” said Andrew Racine, MD, AAP president, in a statement.
This decision effectively means that a science-based process for developing immunization recommendations is not to be trifled with and represents a critical step to restoring scientific decision-making to federal vaccine policy that has kept children healthy for years,” Racine continued.
Medical professionals said the judge’s ruling was an important action and the correct decision.
“The judge’s ruling brings light and focus to the reality that the changes to the vaccine schedule were made by individuals who are not experts in vaccinations, science, or public health and the changes were not based upon any new data, evidence, or scientific basis,” said Graham Tse, MD, a pediatrician and chief medical officer of MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Long Beach, CA.
“The judge’s ruling is everything that pediatricians and family practice physicians and the AAP have been waiting to hear,” said Danelle Fisher, MD, a pediatrician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA.
“There was absolutely no reason to downgrade recommendations on vaccines. The ones who will suffer are the children. Someone needed to stand up to this administration and help our kids,” she told Healthline.
Tse said the judge’s ruling, if upheld on appeal, will send a clear message to parents and other community members.
“I would hope this brings back a single recommended vaccination schedule, supported by all states and the federal government, for the United States,” he told Healthline. “When there are vaccine schedule disagreements and variability across agencies, groups, and states, it leads to confusion, fear, anxiety, and ultimately decreased vaccine acceptance.”
The AAP recommends that children receive vaccinations for 18 different diseases from birth through age 18.
These inoculations include protection against:
Medical professionals point to recent measles outbreaks as an example of what can happen if children aren’t vaccinated. There are now
“Vaccines prevent many diseases that used to be the scourge of childhood, causing vast amounts of illness, deaths, and suffering,” said William Schaffner, MD, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
“Vaccines have made infancy, childhood, and adolescence much safer than when I grew up, so maintaining a comprehensive infancy and childhood vaccination program across the country is critical, lest we turn back the clock to the bad old days,” he told Healthline.
Schaffner said that widespread vaccination is needed to protect immunocompromised children who can’t be inoculated.
“By all participating in vaccination, we create healthier communities as well as protected individuals,” he said.
“Vaccines are one of the easiest ways to ensure the health of children and the community,” noted Tse. “Vaccines are one of the simplest, safest, and easiest ways to protect your children and others from infections and diseases that have significant and severe consequences.”
“These diseases can cause illness and death. If we can prevent needless suffering, why wouldn’t we?,” said Fisher.
