A coalition of medical groups and a pregnant physician on Monday sued Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the agency he leads over changes made to Covid vaccine recommendations.
The suit, led by the American Academy of Pediatrics, argues that a May 19 directive that the government would no longer recommend Covid vaccines for healthy pregnant people and children violated long-standing norms governing immunization policies in the U.S. and undermined public trust.
Plaintiffs — which include a total of six medical organizations — argue that the Department of Health and Human Services and its leader, Kennedy, acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" when making the change. Kennedy is a longtime skeptic of vaccines.
"This administration is an existential threat to vaccination in America, and those in charge are only just getting started," Richard Hughes said in a statement. Hughes is a partner at the law firm Epstein Becker Green and plaintiffs' lead counsel. "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."
Representatives of HHS didn't immediately return a request for comment from Investor's Business Daily.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Sued Over Vaccine Policies
The lawsuit alleges HHS and Kennedy are aiming to "mislead, confuse, and gradually desensitize the public to anti-vaccine and anti-science rhetoric, and that (Kennedy) has routinely flouted federal procedural rules."
Plaintiffs say those actions include blocking communications from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The suit also notes unexplained cancellations of vaccine panel meetings at the CDC and Food and Drug Administration. Earlier this year, HHS canceled an annual meeting for an FDA panel to discuss which strains to include in this year's flu shots. The FDA later provided its own guidance on which strains to include without the panel's input.
Kennedy also announced plans to study a potential link between vaccines and autism.
Most recently, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and added his own handpicked members. The group is in charge of recommending who receives which vaccines and when.
Follow Allison Gatlin on X/Twitter at @AGatlin_IBD.
