Federal Judge Blocks RFK Jr.'s Arbitrary Changes to Childhood Vaccine Policy

Judge Brian Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Monday struck down several actions undertaken by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ruling them illegitimate because they aimed to nullify earlier immunization approvals and recommendations.

In his decision in American Academy of Pediatrics et al. v. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. et al., Murphy ruled, among other things, that the vast majority of RFK Jr.’s appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) are medically and scientifically unqualified under relevant standards set by Congress to rule on the public health risks and benefits of vaccines. The judge stayed the appointments of 13 of RFK Jr.’s 15 ACIP appointees and all of the votes so far taken by RFK Jr.’s handpicked committee. Murphy also stayed further meetings of the ACIP until the issue of the propriety of the current members’ qualifications can be resolved.

Murphy also stayed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) January 2026 memorandum reducing from 16 to 10 the number of recommended childhood vaccinations. “Immunisation has shielded children in the USA from the ravages of infectious disease over recent decades but they are now on the front line of a scientifically incomprehensible battle against vaccines, the casualties of which will be our children,” observed two vaccinologists in their February 2026 op-ed in The Lancet in response to the CDC’s decision.

Murphy noted in his ruling that RFK Jr. himself had warned that if healthcare providers’ immunization recommendations “diverge from the CDC’s official list [they] are not shielded from liability under the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act.”

Among other consequences, Murphy’s ruling means that all previously recommended childhood vaccinations will still be covered by insurance and the federal government’s Vaccines for Children Program. In addition, they will still be included in the congressionally-mandated no-fault Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

“This ruling is a momentous step toward restoring science-based vaccine policymaking,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Richard Hughes IV in a statement. “The judge recognized that the actions of Secretary Kennedy and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices are not grounded in science and that they are destructive. We are thrilled that the court has discarded the baseless vaccine schedule changes made by Secretary Kennedy and is blocking the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices from doing further damage to vaccine policy.”

At the beginning of his tenure as HHS secretary, RFK Jr. vowed to restore trust in America’s public health agencies. He has failed. An Annenberg Public Policy Center poll earlier this month found that only about four in ten Americans are confident that he providing the public with trustworthy information about matters concerning public health. In contrast, the poll reports that 77 percent of respondents trust the American Academy of Pediatrics which just won its case against Kennedy.

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