Public Health Groups Sue CDC and RFK Jr. Over New Vaccine Schedule for Children

Several public health groups are suing to overturn a recent decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reduce the number of childhood vaccinations recommended by the agency, arguing that the move was not grounded in science and that the advisers who approved it were improperly selected, Chris Walker reported for Truthout.

Early last year, Kennedy disbanded the ACIP panel and replaced nearly all of its former members with anti-vaccine appointees. (Photo: Gage Skidmore Flickr)

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, notes that the CDC based its decision on recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

The plaintiffs—which include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association, and three unidentified individuals—accuse Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeatedly spread vaccine disinformation, of “packing” the committee with appointees holding anti-vaccine views.

Early last year, Kennedy disbanded the ACIP panel and replaced nearly all of its former members with anti-vaccine appointees.

One new ACIP member is Robert Malone, a biochemist who promoted disinformation and conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic, including falsely claiming that vaccines were ineffective and endorsing unproven treatments.

“Kennedy did not pick people with strong, current expertise in vaccines,” Dorit Reiss, a law professor at the University of California, San Francisco, told NPR shortly after the appointments, accurately predicting that Kennedy was “setting up a committee that would be skeptical of vaccines and possibly willing to implement an anti-vaccine agenda.”