A federal judge on Monday ruled that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment of vaccine advisory committee members likely violated federal law, blocking vaccine policy changes.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy granted a motion by the American Academy of Pediatrics for a preliminary injunction against the reduced number of recommended immunizations.
Murphy ruled the changes to the recommended childhood vaccination schedule were “arbitrary and capricious,” The Guardian noted.
The ruling invalidated all the votes made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) since the remaking of the panel.
JUST IN – Biden federal judge Brian Murphy blocks HHS Secretary RFK Jr.'s policy to cut the number of routine childhood vaccinations to 11 — Reuters pic.twitter.com/OT2Il0XZqq
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) March 16, 2026
The Hill explained further:
Murphy found that the reconstitution of the ACIP last year failed to abide by the Federal Advisory Committee Act. He also found that the CDC bypassing the ACIP when changing the childhood immunization schedule was both a “technical, procedural failure” and “an abandonment of the technical knowledge and expertise embodied by that committee.”
ADVERTISEMENT“The Court concludes that, in addition to being contrary to law, the issuance of the January 2026 Memo was arbitrary and capricious because it abandoned the agency’s longstanding practice of getting recommendations from ACIP before changing the immunization schedules without sufficient explanation,” Murphy wrote in his ruling, referring to the CDC’s announcement at the start of the year altering the childhood and adolescent immunization schedule.
Last June, Kennedy fired all 17 sitting members of the ACIP, claiming it was necessary to “re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.”
One of the attorneys representing the American Academy of Pediatrics called the ruling a “major victory.”
“HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said.
ACIP is not able to meet later this week due to the ruling.
According to a Federal Register Notice published in February, the advisory committee was scheduled to receive updates on “ACIP Workgroups and discussions on COVID-19 vaccine injuries and Long-COVID.”
“Recommendation votes may be scheduled for COVID-19 vaccine injuries and Long-COVID and ACIP recommendation methodology,” it added.
The Guardian noted:
All votes made by those advisers are also invalidated, including decisions to ban thimerosal (thimerosal) from flu vaccines; ending the recommendation for the combination measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and chickenpox vaccine; and the end of the universal birth dose recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine.
How does that sound?
