Trump administration appeals court order in effort to cut vaccine
recommendations for kids
[May 01, 2026]
By MIKE STOBBE
NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration is appealing a judge's order as
it tries to cut the number of vaccines recommended for every child in
the United States.
The appeal filed Wednesday was a response to a March 16 court order that
blocked the decision by President Donald Trump's health secretary,
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, to end broad recommendations for all children to
be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some
forms of meningitis and RSV, a respiratory virus.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy's order also stopped a meeting of a
Kennedy-appointed vaccine advisory committee.
The judge's order remains in effect while the appeal is considered.
The government's one-sentence filing did not say why the block should be
lifted. U.S. health officials did not immediately comment on the filing,
or respond to a question about why they waited six weeks to file an
appeal.
The appeal is the latest development in a lawsuit filed in July by the
American Academy of Pediatrics and some other medical groups. The
lawsuit in federal court in Boston originally focused on Kennedy’s
decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for most children
and pregnant women.
The lawsuit was updated as Kennedy took more steps that alarmed medical
societies, causing the plaintiffs to ask Murphy to take steps to address
those policy changes too.
For example, the plaintiffs amended the lawsuit to stop the scaling back
of the nation’s childhood vaccination schedule. They also asked the
court to look at Kennedy’s actions concerning the Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices, which advises public health officials on what
vaccines to recommend to doctors and patients.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends an
event on health care affordability in the Oval Office at the White
House, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark
Schiefelbein)
 Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine
activist before becoming the nation’s top health official, fired the
entire 17-member panel last year and replaced it with a group that
includes several anti-vaccine voices.
Murphy, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Joe
Biden, said Kennedy’s reconstitution of ACIP likely violated federal
law. The judge ordered the appointments — and all decisions made by
the reformulated committee — put on hold.
Earlier this month, the Republican administration updated the
committee's charter to broadens qualifications for panel members in
ways that would allow the inclusion of Kennedy allies. That move did
not resolve the legal challenge, according to Richard Hughes IV, a
lawyer representing the pediatrics group.
Hughes this week said he was disappointed that the government
decided to appeal but said he expected to prevail. He pledged to
bring an end to Kennedy's “steady destruction of vaccine policy and
public health.”
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