Six medical organisations in the US plan to ask the courts to throw out revisions to the childhood vaccination schedule recently announced by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, saying they are not based on scientific evidence and may cause harm.
The New York Times reports that Kennedy and his appointees reduced the number of diseases prevented under routine childhood immunisation recommendations from 17 to 11. The new schedule recommends that vaccines against six diseases – including hepatitis A and B, rotavirus and the flu – be given to most children only after consultation with a healthcare provider.
The organisations also intend to ask the courts to block a late February meeting of federal vaccine advisers handpicked by Kennedy, with an initial hearing on the lawsuit scheduled for 13 February.
The plaintiffs include the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Paediatrics, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American College of Physicians, the Society for Maternal-Foetal Medicine and the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance.
They are also planning to amend an existing lawsuit over decisions by federal health officials to limit access to Covid vaccines.
In a separate lawsuit against HHS, the paediatrics academy also alleged that the department cut millions of dollars in grants because the group had criticised the administration’s actions.
On Monday, a district court blocked the cuts from taking effect while the case proceeds.
A federal panel of independent advisers typically reviews scientific data for each new vaccine, and when and how it should be administered to children, before making recommendations.
In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of that committee and replaced them with several members who share his scepticism of vaccines. In its three meetings last year, the new advisory panel rescinded recommendations for some flu vaccines containing thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that has falsely been linked to autism; a birth dose for all newborns for hepatitis B; and a combination vaccine against mumps, measles, rubella and chickenpox for children under four.
It limited access to Covid vaccines as well, including for adults 65 and older, recommending that they first consult with a healthcare provider.
At a meeting in December, the members signalled that they also would question the use of aluminium salts, which are added to vaccines to enhance immune responses.
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Outcry after US childhood vaccine changes
US to end recommendations for newborns’ hepatitis B jabs