Judge blocks RFK Jr's changes to US childhood vaccine schedule

A federal judge on Monday blocked the US government from making sweeping changes to childhood immunisations, in a blow to Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr's agenda.

Since taking office a year ago, Kennedy has sought to change and loosen vaccine regulations, including slashing the number of recommended shots for children from 17 to 11.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other large medical groups had sued, saying Kennedy's changes violated federal law.

Judge Brian Murphy also suspended Kennedy's appointments to an advisory vaccine panel, many of whom were vaccine-sceptics. Kennedy was a longtime antivaccine activist before joining President Donald Trump's administration.

The ruling means a scheduled Wednesday meeting for the vaccine panel, called the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (Acip) will be postponed, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling.

In a statement, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the agency "looks forward to this judge's decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing".

Medical groups who brought the suit, meanwhile, lauded the decision, including the American Medical Association, the largest US professional organization for doctors, which called it "an important step toward protecting the health of Americans, particularly children".

After taking the helm at HHS, Kennedy fired all the members of Acip, an advisory panel made up of outside experts that issues recommendations to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on who should get jabs and when. Kennedy replaced them with his own picks, who have mostly expressed a host of sceptical views about vaccines.

In his 45-page ruling, Judge Murphy of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts said Acip has moved away from making decisions through "a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements."

"Unfortunately, the Government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions," Murphy wrote, adding that Kennedy had not used the "rigorous screening" typically involved in choosing panel members when he installed his replacements.

Murphy also ruled that the Trump administration had bypassed Acip altogether to make changes to the vaccine schedule, calling it a "technical, procedural failure".

The lawsuit covered other changes Kennedy has implemented since taking office, including reducing the number of recommended childhood vaccines and changing the longstanding recommendation that all newborn babies get shots protecting against hepatitis B.

Parents and doctors have been grappling with chaos and confusion since the changes were made and growing especially concerned about how insurance companies will cover immunisations long considered important to public health.

Respected medical groups have issued their own recommendations in the wake of the new policies, which they argue are not based in science and endanger the health of children, while some states are banding together to push healthcare providers to follow the pre-Kennedy immunisation schedule.