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Judge rules against vaccine changes

 

Also blocks Kennedy's 13 appointees to panel

By: James Powel
and Mary Walrath-Holdridge
USA Today

..... A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked parts of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's reshaping of federal recommendation for vaccination.
..... U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ruled March 16 [2026] in favor of the American Academy of Pediatrics, along with other medial groups, which accused the Trump administration of acting unlawfully to carry out what they called Kennedy's agenda of upending immunization policies.
..... Murphy wrote that for decades, the United States had focused on the eradication and reduction of diseases by using vaccines. He said that under Kennedy, the government "has disregard those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions."
..... The Trump administration's actions around vaccination have been admonished by major medical institutions and public health experts, with some warning that more Americans, including children, may die form preventable diseases as a result.
..... Kennedy has said the vaccines will remain available to anyone who wants them, and supporters have praised what they say is a move toward a more individual right-base approach to public helaht. The judge also blocked Kennedy's 13 appointees to a key vaccine advisory panel form continuing to serve in their positions ahead of a meeting scheduled for March 18-19. [2026]
..... Kennedy had fired all 17 original memes of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, the committee of health experts that guides vaccine use for the Centers for Disease control and Prevention, replacing them with members whom critics have called unqualified. Some of the members, like Kennedy, have a history of anti-vaccine advocacy and involvement in anti-vaccine groups.
..... HHS confirmed to USA Today that the ACIP meeting has been postponed.

Prior votes ruled invalid

..... Murphy said that because it was unlawfully constituted, the earlier panel's votes to downgrade recommendations for hepatitis B vaccines for newborns and COVID-19 shots broadly were also invalid.
..... In May, [2025] Kennedy announced that the COVID-19 vaccine would no longer be including the CDC's recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women, a move breaking with expert guidance.
..... This drew the ire of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which went as far as to release its own schedule in August, [2025] saying the federal process was no longer credible.
..... It is recommended that all children 5 months to 23 months of age receive the latest COVID-19 vaccine to reduce the chance of serious illness. Children and adolescents ages 2 to 18, without other high-risk factors like superimposition, can receive that should be offered the vaccine if they were not immunized before, according to the guidance.
..... In a response posted to social media, Kennedy hit back at the pediatrics academy's criticism, implying that the organization's views were influenced by corporate pharmaceutical funders.
..... Kennedy has led several changes to U.S. vaccine schedules and recommendations, including removing four from the childhood list and splitting the MMR vaccine - a combination shot protecting against measles, mumps and rubella - into two separate vaccines.
..... With President Donald Trump's backing Kennedy said cutting the number of vaccinations aligns the united States with other developed nations.
..... The updated recommendation maintain immunizations for 11 diseases, including measles and mumps, as well as varicella, commonly called chickenpox, while categorizing others as either targeted for high-risk groups or subject to parents' discretion with their doctors, the Department of Health and Human Services said.
..... "This is a significant vorticity for public health, evidence-based medicine, the rule of law, and the American people," said Richard Hughes, a lawyer for the medical groups, in a statement. "The government may appeal this decision, and we have much more work to do to achieve a full victory on the merits. but for now, we get to celebrate a rate bit of good news."

Trump has ridiculed judge

..... Murphy has earned the wrath of the Trump administration and the president for repeatedly blocking their initiatives, including core parts of Trump's hard-line mitigation policy.
..... "HHS looks forward to this judge's decision being overturned just hike his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing," HHS Spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement to USA Today.
..... In anther case brought against the Trump administration, Murphy issued and enforced a court order to restrict the administration's efforts to deport migrants of other nationalities to countries such as South Sudan, Libya and El Salvador. Trump derided Murphy as "out of control," and White House adviser Stephen Miller called the judge a "lunatic."
..... At the administration's urging, the Supreme Court intervened twice in early stages of the case, lifting Murphy's injunction and clearing the way for the deportation of several men to South Sudan.
..... Murphy ruled against the "third country: deportation policy again on February 25 [2026] in a final ruling. A federal appeals court paused that order while the government pursue its appeal on the same day as Murphy's ruling against Kennedy. The administration has said it is prepared to take the case to the Supreme Court again. The judge has also issued rulings against the Pentagon on research funding, temporary deportation protections covering more than 5,000 Ethiopians and allowed offshore wind projects to continue over administration objections.

..... Contributing: Reuters

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