A group of medical organizations is suing Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other health leaders in the Trump administration over the decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccines to healthy children and pregnant women.
The lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts and alleges the removal of healthy children and pregnant women from the recommendation to receive COVID-19 vaccines is part of Kennedy’s demonstrated “pattern of hostility toward established scientific processes.”
Kennedy announced in May that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would no longer be recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. The agency later updated its guidance to say healthy children “may receive” the vaccine, while providing “no guidance” for pregnant women.
Plaintiffs include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Massachusetts Public Health Association, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
An unnamed female physician in Massachusetts who is pregnant and is seeking a COVID-19 vaccine on the guidance of her doctors, referred to as “Jane Doe” in the suit, is also suing over the directive.
Along with Kennedy, the groups are also suing Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and acting CDC Director Matthew Buzzelli.
The plaintiffs allege Kennedy’s directive to remove children and pregnant women from the COVID-19 vaccine schedule violated the Administrative Procedure Act. They argued his decision was rife with “arbitrariness and capriciousness,” pointing to his admission that his opinions on vaccines are “irrelevant” and his belief that people should not be “taking medical advice” from him.
They pointed to Kennedy’s firing and remaking of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices as evidence of his agenda to undermine trust in vaccines.
“This administration is an existential threat to vaccination in America, and those in charge are only just getting started. If left unchecked, Secretary Kennedy will accomplish his goal of ridding the United States of vaccines, which would unleash a wave of preventable harm on our nation’s children,” said Richard Hughes, partner at Epstein Becker Green and lead counsel for the plaintiffs.
“I will say this is unprecedented. Our clients are not litigious organizations. They don’t want to be in court, and certainly we do not like that we’re in the position of having to sue the Secretary of Health and Human Services, our nation’s chief health officer,” Hughes said. “So this is a position that I don’t think they want to be in, but it’s necessary.”
The suit asks that Kennedy’s directive be declared unlawful, that COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for pregnant women be restored, and that Kennedy announce the reinstated guidance on social platform X.
They also ask that the defendants be blocked from enforcing, publicizing or encouraging Kennedy’s directive.
Georges Benjamin, president of the American Public Health Association, said the goal of this lawsuit is to “establish a rational scientific process to get into decision making, to recognizing that the system has worked for many, many, many years in an effective manner.” “And if you use the evidence and get the guidance of these experts, you’ll get a good outcome,” Benjamin said.
When reached for comment, an HHS spokesperson said, “The Secretary stands by his CDC reforms.”
