By Jessica Nix, Bloomberg
US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule is facing a fresh legal challenge from 15 states that argue the changes will make people sicker and strain local budgets.
Over the past year, Kennedy dramatically reshaped a key US advisory panel to incorporate vaccine skeptics, then later oversaw changes to the national immunization schedule that pared back the number of shots recommended for America’s children.
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“Undermining confidence in vaccines will lead to lower vaccination rates and more infectious disease,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday in a statement. “It will also drive up costs for states, including increased Medicaid spending and new expenses to combat misinformation and revise public health guidance.”
The challenge, led by Bonta and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, argues Kennedy’s vaccine panel appointments and alterations to the immunization schedule were unlawful. The states are asking a judge in San Francisco federal court to overrule the changes.
The Department of Health and Human Services defended the moves, saying the revised shot schedule protects children from serious diseases and is in line with international standards. The agency “will work with states and clinicians to ensure families have clear, accurate information to make their own informed decisions,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Vaccine Overhaul
It’s the latest legal challenge Kennedy is facing over sweeping changes that have been labeled dangerous by doctors, medical groups and public health leaders. In a similar case in Massachusetts, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups sued over changes to the childhood schedule and the legality of the vaccine panel, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. That challenge is ongoing.
The lawsuits filed on separate coasts have similar goals, but represent different stakes and interests. States needed to shore up their own health systems, codify new vaccine schedules and deal with misinformation as a result of Kennedy’s actions, Mayes said on a call with reporters Tuesday.
The new suit also names as a defendant Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health and the newly named acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health and Human Services and the CDC are also named.
In January, the acting CDC director at the time pared down the list of diseases covered by the childhood immunization schedule to 11 from 17. Long-used shots that protect against illnesses like RSV, rotavirus and influenza are no longer universally recommended in the new guidelines.
The coalition of mostly Democratic states argues Kennedy’s moves sidestepped the advisory committee, scientific analyses and the existing legal framework to create recommendations.
Under federal law, ACIP membership has to be considered “fairly balanced” and not “inappropriately influenced by the appointing authority or by any special interest.” The plaintiffs argue the majority of the new members have publicly expressed views that align with Kennedy’s historic opposition to vaccines.
For example, one member of the committee, Robert Malone, appeared as an expert witness against Merck & Co.’s HPV vaccine and is a self-proclaimed “anti-vaxxer.” Another member is a nurse who was previously involved the National Vaccine Information Center, an advocacy group that questions the safety of vaccines. The group was expected to meet in February, but will now convene March 18.
California’s Bonta has already pursued legal action against Kennedy. Earlier this month, he and three other Democratic attorneys general sued over HHS cutting millions in public health funding for programs that help address HIV and sexually transmitted infections, respond to natural disasters and manage disease disasters.
The case is State of California Justice Departments v. Kennedy, 26-cv-01609, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
–With assistance from Robert Burnson.
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