Trump administration appeals order blocking vaccine recommendation rollback

Trump administration challenges ruling blocking vaccine recommendation changes

The Trump administration appealed a federal judge’s order that halted its effort to cut the number of vaccines recommended for most children in the United States, according to a filing made Wednesday. The appeal sought review of a March 16 decision that blocked the policy move by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while the case proceeds.

The March 16 order also stopped a meeting of a vaccine advisory committee appointed by Kennedy. The judge’s decision remains in effect while the appeals court considers the government’s request, the filing said.

The government’s appeal described the dispute as a response to the March 16 ruling that blocked Kennedy’s decision to end broad recommendations for children to receive vaccines for flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV, a respiratory virus. A one-sentence government filing did not state why the block should be lifted, and U.S. health officials did not immediately comment on the appeal.

The lawsuit behind the case was initially filed in July in federal court in Boston by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups. At first, the complaint focused on Kennedy’s decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for most children and pregnant women.

As Kennedy took additional steps that medical societies said alarmed them, the plaintiffs amended their lawsuit. The expanded case asked the court to address further policy changes, including an attempt to stop the scaling back of the nation’s childhood vaccination schedule.

The plaintiffs also sought relief involving the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises public health officials on which vaccines to recommend to doctors and patients. Kennedy, described in the court context as a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming a top health official, fired the entire 17-member panel last year and replaced it with a group that included several anti-vaccine voices.

In the March 16 decision, Murphy said Kennedy’s reconstitution of ACIP likely violated federal law. The judge ordered the appointments and all decisions made by the reformulated committee to be put on hold.

Earlier this month, the Republican administration updated the committee’s charter to broaden qualifications for panel members in ways that would allow the inclusion of Kennedy allies. That change, according to Richard Hughes IV, a lawyer representing the pediatrics group, did not resolve the legal challenge.

Hughes said in connection with the Wednesday appeal that he was disappointed the government chose to appeal, but he expected the administration to lose. He said he planned to pursue an end to Kennedy’s “steady destruction of vaccine policy and public health.”