Overview
- U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy issued a preliminary injunction on March 16 that pauses key HHS/CDC vaccine policy changes sought by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- The order stays 13 recent appointments to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and nullifies votes taken by those appointees, including the move to drop the universal hepatitis B birth dose.
- Implementation of the Jan. 5 memo that cut routine childhood vaccinations from roughly 17–18 to 11 and downgraded several disease recommendations is on hold.
- An HHS official confirmed the ACIP meeting planned for this week was postponed, and the court’s order is temporary while the case proceeds.
- The lawsuit led by the American Academy of Pediatrics alleges violations of federal procedure, and the judge cited likely legal breaches, insufficient vaccine expertise among new appointees, and the bypassing of ACIP’s established role.