Judge temporarily blocks key parts of RFK, Jr.’s effort to overhaul U.S. childhood vaccines

Judge temporarily blocks key parts of RFK Jr.’s effort to overhaul U.S. childhood vaccines

By Claire Cameron edited by Tanya Lewis

A federal judge on Monday blocked much of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s sweeping overhaul of U.S. vaccine policy in a ruling that sides with six medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), that had challenged Kennedy’s rule changes in court.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston stayed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision to reduce the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccines. The CDC has reduced the number of diseases it recommends all children be vaccinated against from 17 to 11. The decision, taken in January, was widely criticized by public health experts because it endangers children’s health.

“I think from the perspective of the children and families of this country, they owe a huge debt of gratitude to Judge Murphy, because he has now provided some clarity on what we should be doing in terms of vaccine recommendations that has been a little unclear until now,” Andrew Racine, president of the AAP, said at a news conference after the ruling was delivered.

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The judge also blocked the appointment of 13 members of an influential independent vaccine advisory board called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) because they likely violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act. In one of his first acts as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy fired all of the former ACIP members and replaced them. Additionally, Murphy’s decision temporarily overrides all decisions made by Kennedy-appointed ACIP panelists. The medical organizations had argued in their lawsuit that ACIP members appointed by Kennedy did not have the necessary qualifications to recommend vaccine policy.

“We have said from the beginning, and we continue to say, that if we are going to have vaccine recommendations for children and families in this country, they must be based on science,” Racine said.

The panel was scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss vaccine policy recommendations, but following the judge’s ruling, the lead attorney in the AAP lawsuit questioned whether ACIP would do so.

“HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned, as are his other attempts to prevent the Trump administration from governing,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement.

Editor’s Note (3/16/26): This is a developing story and will be updated.

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