Judge voids RFK Jr.'s changes to vaccine recommendations in major rebuke
Washington DC - Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been dealt a serious blow after a federal judge blocked some of his biggest policy changes.
According to The Hill, District Judge Brian Murphy granted a motion on Monday from the American Academy of Pediatrics for a preliminary injunction against a memorandum signed by HHS to reduce the number of recommended shots for children, as well as Kennedy's restructuring of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The ACIP produces recommendations for how and when the government should use vaccines, but last June, Kennedy fired all its members and quickly installed new ones who aligned with his views.
Murphy ruled that Kennedy's efforts to shake up the committee violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act and described the move to bypass the ACIP to implement his memo as "an abandonment of the technical knowledge and expertise."The ruling voided the vaccine rescheduling, all votes made by the committee to date, and the committee itself.
Recently, a Covid-19 Immunization Workgroup put together a report proposing that the ACIP create a new diagnostic category specifically for Covid vaccine injuries so they can be tracked.
The ACIP was scheduled to meet this Wednesday to discuss the report, but the judge's ruling now makes it unlawful for them to do so.
Cover photo: JIM WATSON / AFP