The Trump administration filed a one-sentence appeal on Wednesday in an effort to overturn a federal judge’s order that blocked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from ending broad vaccination recommendations for U.S. children, the Associated Press reported.
The appeal, lodged in the U.S. District Court in Boston, gave no reason why the administration believes the March 16 order by Judge Brian Murphy should be lifted, and health officials declined to comment on why the government waited six weeks to file. Murphy’s ruling remains in force while the appeal is heard.
Murphy’s order stopped Kennedy’s decision to withdraw the universal recommendation that all children be immunized against influenza, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, certain types of meningitis, and RSV, a common respiratory virus. The judge also froze a meeting of the revamped Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which Kennedy had reconstituted after firing its 17-member panel last year and appointing a group that includes several figures with a history of vaccine skepticism.
The legal challenge began in July when the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical organizations sued over Kennedy’s decision to halt COVID-19 vaccination recommendations for most children and pregnant women. As Kennedy took further steps that alarmed the medical community, the plaintiffs amended the lawsuit to target the broader rollback of the childhood vaccination schedule and the restructuring of ACIP.
In his March ruling, Murphy, a Biden appointee, said Kennedy’s reconstitution of the advisory committee likely violated federal law and ordered all decisions made by the new panel put on hold. Earlier this month, the administration revised the committee’s charter to broaden member qualifications in a way that could allow more Kennedy allies to serve, a move that the plaintiffs’ attorney, Richard Hughes IV, said did not resolve the legal challenge.
Hughes expressed disappointment at the government’s decision to appeal but said he expected to prevail. He pledged to bring an end to what he called Kennedy’s “steady destruction of vaccine policy and public health.”