US medical groups urge judge to allow challenge to Kennedy-backed vaccine policies to proceed

Source: Reuters

December 17, 2025 3:51 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago


BOSTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - A coalition of major medical organizations urged a federal judge on Wednesday to reject the Trump administration's bid to dismiss their lawsuit challenging policies adopted under U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy that they say will lower vaccination rates. James Oh, a lawyer for groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics, told U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy that Kennedy "is throwing grenades into the healthcare system," during a hearing in Boston. "And when you throw a grenade, people are going to get hurt," Oh said.

He said Kennedy, as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, unlawfully directed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May to remove the COVID shot recommendation for pregnant women and children from its vaccination schedules without any advance notice or reasoned explanation. In June, Kennedy, who founded the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, fired 17 independent experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the CDC on vaccine policies, and replaced them with members who largely support his views.

That committee in September voted in favor of COVID-19 shots being administered only through shared decision-making with a healthcare provider, essentially calling for patients to consult their doctors first. The CDC adopted that as a recommendation for pediatric and adult patients in October, in the process withdrawing what had been the broad recommendation that the COVID shots be available for anyone in the U.S. who wanted one.

The medical groups, in a lawsuit that has evolved substantially since it was first filed in July, say that the panel was unlawfully reconstituted in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act's requirements that such a committee be "fairly balanced" and not "inappropriately influenced" by the appointing official.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-medical-groups-urge-judge-allow-challenge-kennedy-backed-vaccine-policies-2025-12-17/