Vaccine Policy Change Prompts Lawsuit Against Kennedy by Health Experts

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by a coalition of medical organizations underscores the contentious nature of vaccine policy in the United States. The plaintiffs, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians, argue that Kennedy's decision to withdraw recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines for children and pregnant women is not only arbitrary but also detrimental to public health . This legal action reflects broader concerns about vaccine safety and efficacy, particularly during a time when misinformation about vaccinations proliferates.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association and four other groups — along with an unnamed pregnant doctor who works in a hospital — filed the lawsuit in federal court in Boston.

COVID-19 shots for all Americans ages 6 months and older. But in late May, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he was removing COVID-19 shots from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women.

Many health experts decried the move as confusing and accused Kennedy of disregarding the scientific review process that has been in place for decades — in which experts publicly review current medical evidence and hash out the pros and cons of policy changes.

American Public Health Association are among a list of leading physicians associations named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

“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,” said Hughes. “The professional associations for pediatricians, internal medicine physicians, infectious disease physicians, high-risk pregnancy physicians, and public health professionals will not stand idly by as our system of prevention is dismantled. This ends now.”

In late May, Kennedy announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would no longer recommend Covid-19 vaccines for healthy children or pregnant women. The announcement, made on social media, contradicted a raft of evidence showing pregnant women and infants are at especially high-risk from the disease, including from the administration’s own scientific leaders.

This is not the first time the AAP has sued the federal government and it has done so regardless of political party. In 1983, the AAP and other medical groups sued HHS over a rule related to life-sustaining treatment for infants with critical illness or disabilities. The AAP sued the FDA in 2016 and 2018. The first lawsuit was for delaying implementation of graphic warnings for cigarettes and the second was for delaying a review of e-cigarettes and cigars.

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Sara H

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