California, Pennsylvania and 13 other states filed a lawsuit Feb. 24 against HHS, alleging the agency’s recent changes to the CDC’s vaccine recommendations were illegal.
In early January, HHS transformed the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule, which previously recommended vaccines for 18 diseases. It now recommends vaccines for 11 diseases, cutting universal shot recommendations for rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus.
The 15 states are requesting a federal court to declare the revised vaccine schedule and recent changes to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a federal vaccine advisory panel for the CDC, as unlawful.
Attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, and the governor of Pennsylvania, filed the lawsuit. Six federal healthcare organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, filed a similar lawsuit in late January.
Defendants include HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, as well as the two health agencies.
The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Kennedy unlawfully appointed ACIP members by failing to issue a Federal Register notice and following the Federal Advisory Committee Act’s requirement that committee members are “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed.”
The Jan. 5 overhaul to the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule was “not based on any new scientific evidence, any recommendation by a lawfully constituted ACIP or any systematic review of the available data,” according to a news release from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“This is a publicity stunt dressed up as a lawsuit,” HHS told Becker’s. “By law, the health secretary has clear authority to make determinations on the CDC immunization schedule and the composition of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The CDC immunization schedule reforms reflect common-sense public health policy shared by peer, developed countries.”
The states filed the lawsuit hours before President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, which political analysts predict will feature a focus on efforts to reduce healthcare costs.
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