ACP, others file suit against HHS, Secretary Kennedy for unlawful, unilateral vaccine changes
ACP joined with other medical societies and a pregnant patient to defend vaccine policy.
ACP filed a lawsuit July 7 with the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and a pregnant patient to defend vaccine policy and end the assault on science, public health, and evidence-based medicine.
ACP and others involved in the case are suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for acting arbitrarily and capriciously by unilaterally changing COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant people. Secretary Kennedy also unjustly dismissed 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and appointed replacements who have historically espoused antivaccine viewpoints and who proceeded to undermine the science behind vaccine recommendations. The lawsuit asks for preliminary and permanent injunctions to enjoin Secretary Kennedy's rescissions of COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and a declaratory judgment pronouncing the change in recommendations as unlawful.
The lawsuit charges that a coordinated set of actions by HHS and Secretary Kennedy were designed to mislead, confuse, and gradually desensitize the public to antivaccine and antiscience rhetoric and that Secretary Kennedy has routinely flouted federal procedural rules. These actions include blocking CDC communications, canceling vaccine panel meetings at the FDA and CDC without explanation, announcing studies to investigate nonexistent links between vaccines and autism, unilaterally overriding immunization recommendations, and replacing the diverse members of ACIP with a slate of individuals biased against sound vaccine facts.
“Destabilizing a trusted source and its evidence-based process for helping guide decision-making for vaccines to protect the public health in our country erodes public confidence in our government's ability to ensure the health of the American public and contributes to confusion and uncertainty,” ACP President Jason M. Goldman, MD, MACP, stated. “As physicians, we require reliable, science-based guidance that is based on the best available evidence, developed through an evidence-based and transparent process, to ensure the safety, welfare, and lives of our patients.”