Overview

• On July 7, six leading medical associations and an anonymous pregnant physician filed suit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Department of Health and Human Services
• Plaintiffs contend that Kennedy’s May directive stripping COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women violated decades of policy governing federal vaccine review
• The complaint highlights Kennedy’s dismissal of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and his appointment of vaccine critics as a breach of standard scientific procedures
• The groups are seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions to block Kennedy’s policy changes and a court declaration that the removal of prior recommendations is unlawful
• HHS has issued a statement saying that Secretary Kennedy stands by his CDC reform efforts