Medical groups sue RFK Jr over COVID-19 policies
A group of medical organisations in the US has filed a lawsuit against Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and other senior health officials in the Trump administration, claiming changes to COVID-19 vaccinations are putting patients at risk.
The lawsuit – filed in a Massachusetts district court by multiple plaintiffs, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (ACP) – is claiming that the removal in May of healthy children and pregnant women from the list of people who should receive COVID-19 vaccines is a "baseless and uninformed policy decision" that "immediately exposes these vulnerable populations to a serious illness with potentially irreversible long-term effects and, in some cases, death."
Also cited in the complaint (PDF) are FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who appeared alongside Kennedy when he announced the move on social media, along with Matthew Buzzeli, who is acting director of the CDC, and various other unidentified defendants.
It is seeking an immediate injunction on the 'Secretarial Directive' issued by Kennedy, which the plaintiffs allege is part of his "agenda to dismantle the longstanding, Congressionally-authorised, science- and evidence-based vaccine infrastructure that has prevented the deaths of untold millions of Americans."
Kennedy's announcement centred on the CDC no longer recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, although, the agency later updated its guidance to indicate that kids may receive a shot after a consultation with a healthcare professional. There remains no guidance for pregnant women.
Among other moves by the HHS Secretary since taking office cited in the lawsuit are the wholesale firing of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP) and the 'stacking' of the panel with members who are more closely aligned with Kennedy's thinking on vaccines, cuts to funding for immunisation programmes, and the launch of an inquiry into the debunked idea that vaccines can cause autism – headed by a vaccines sceptic who was disciplined for practicing medicine without a license.
The ACP – along with co-plaintiffs the American Public Health Association (APHA), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Society for Maternal-Foetal Medicine (SMFM), the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, and a pregnant female doctor who intends to get a COVID-19 jab – claim that Kennedy and the other defendants have violated federal law with the unilateral change to COVID-19 vaccine policy.
"This administration is an existential threat to vaccination in America, and those in charge are only just getting started," said Richard Hughes, partner at Epstein Becker Green who is representing the plaintiffs, in a statement.
"If left unchecked, Secretary Kennedy will accomplish his goal of ridding the US of vaccines, which would unleash a wave of preventable harm on our nation's children," he added.
In a statement, HHS said it stands by the CDC reforms implemented under Kennedy.
