In March, a federal judge reinstated the CDC’s comprehensive, science-based schedule of recommended routine childhood vaccines.
Photo by Jacob Wackerhausen, courtesy of iStockphoto
In a major victory for American public health and science, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s truncated childhood vaccination schedule, citing a lack of scientific review.
On March 16, Judge Brian Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts temporarily halted the new federal schedule for routine childhood vaccinations following a lawsuit filed by APHA and its partners.
In January, the Trump administration cut the vaccine schedule by a third. Despite solid science showing the benefits of vaccines against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, RSV, meningitis, rotavirus and influenza, they were all removed from the schedule.
The lawsuit, led by the American Academy of Pediatrics, was originally filed last summer in response to HHS’s removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the program and was amended to include subsequent changes.
APHA and its partners filed a preliminary injunction in January to stop the revised vaccination schedule and prohibit the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices from meeting to discuss public health issues. The lawsuit argued that the committee relied on misinformation and speculation in making vaccine decisions.
“This court order underscores the need to use science in public health decision-making and use a process that involves qualified experts when it comes to recommending interventions that impact human health,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of APHA. “Trust comes when we engage the public in a transparent process, not one where decisions are made behind closed doors by unqualified people and presented falsely.”
While the ACIP, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was long considered scientifically qualified to make immunization recommendations, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, fired respected and vetted members of the committee last year and then handpicked their replacements. Judge Murphy said of Kennedy’s picks that only six of 15 “appear to have any significant experience in vaccines, the very focus of the ACIP.”
APHA has stood firm in advocating for public health during the Trump administration. The Association has not only questioned decisions that were not based on science, but has also repeatedly called for Kennedy’s removal from office.
“Mr. Kennedy’s tenure can best be described as chaotic,” Benjamin said in February. “Broken promises, administrative incompetence, professional negligence: these put public health at extraordinary risk. People are sicker and dying earlier because of their policies.”
To learn more about APHA’s advocacy for public health science, visit www.apha.org/under-threat.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
