RFK Jr.'s Child Vaccine Policy Changes And Anti-Vaccine Advisory Panel Blocked By Federal Judge

“Today’s ruling is a win for public health and reaffirms that national vaccine policy should be guided by rigorous, evidence-based science, not politics,” said Jason M. Goldman, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), one of the seven medical associations named as plaintiffs in the case, in a joint statement. “Scientific consensus and overwhelming evidence demonstrate that vaccines are safe and effective.”

“Vaccines are critical to maintaining public health and recommendations about their use must be based on the best available data,” he said. “We are encouraged by today’s injunction and hope that it will mean a return to a transparent and evidence-driven process that safeguards the health of all communities and the best interests of our patients.”

In total, the ruling halts or blocks all new ACIP advisors’ appointments to the committee; every vote those members have made to change US vaccine recommendations; and RFK’s January overhaul of childhood vaccine and immunization schedules. It’s a good result – but it’s not the end of the story. 

Here’s what this week’s ruling means.

ACIP changes

Despite promising multiple times throughout his Senate confirmation hearing that he would “do nothing as HHS Secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines”, in practice it took less than a week before RFK Jr’s longstanding and well-documented vaccine denialism took hold in the department. 

Indeed, one of his first actions was to indefinitely postpone the meeting of ACIP, in which official US vaccine recommendations would normally be developed – and within a matter of months, he was remaking the committee in his own image. All 17 experts serving on the panel as vaccine advisers were fired by RFK Jr., replaced by a selection of eight people, including noted vaccine deniers and medical conspiracy theorists.

“A committee and process that was once grounded in science and the best available evidence has become politicized,” announced the ACP after the new panel members met for the first time in June 2025. “The committee […] demonstrated bias and made statements that go against the evidence-to-recommendation framework and transparent process for which the previous ACIP was known and trusted.” 

“False comments about vaccine safety made by current committee members with no clinical experience will further sow seeds of fear, doubt, and distrust in medicine among patients and contribute to the spread of medical mis- and disinformation,” they cautioned.

The new ACIP appointees weren’t only controversial because of their views. The committee was “assembled hastily and without transparency and not chaired by a physician with medical training,” the ACP said. It was evidently biased toward RFK Jr’s viewpoint, and that, argued the ACP, their fellow organizations, and several individuals named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, made it illegitimate. 

Specifically, it goes against the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) – a 1972 piece of legislation which rules that any federal advisory committee – that is, “any committee, board, commission, council, conference, panel, task force, or other similar group” that issues “advice or recommendations” to the President or federal agencies – must be “fairly balanced” and not “inappropriately influenced” by the appointing official.

In his ruling, Judge Murphy evidently agreed with the plaintiffs’ assessment of the new ACIP members’ suitability – and legitimacy – for the position. “A committee of non-experts cannot be said to embody ‘fairly balanced […] points of view’ within the relevant scientific community,” he wrote in a scathing 45-page ruling issued this Monday. “It is more accurate to say that they do not represent points of view within the relevant expert community.”

Naming names, Murphy pointed out that “at least six ACIP members – Dr. Hillary Blackburn, Dr. Evelyn Griffin, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, Dr. Kirk Milhoan, Dr. James Pagano, Dr. Raymond Pollak – appear to lack any expertise or professional qualifications related to vaccines or immunization as required by ACIP’s Charter.” 

“An additional three of the current ACIP members – Dr. Retsef Levi, Dr. Robert Malone, and Dr. Catherine Stein – though they have some experience arguably relevant to ACIP’s function, appear to lack the qualifications and experience to constitute expertise in vaccines and immunization,” he added.

As such, their appointments to the committee have been blocked, as have any votes and recommendations they made during their tenure. The decision couldn’t be more timely – ACIP was slated to meet just two days after the ruling was issued, with the topic of discussion to be alleged COVID-19 vaccine injuries. That meeting has now been postponed.

Vaccine shakedowns

Kennedy and ACIP’s anti-vaccine bias has been evident from the start: in the first meeting of the newly remodeled panel, there was no agenda nor topics posted in advance to allow for public comment. One presentation was added last minute to allow for an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy himself to speak; that presentation not only promoted a debunked conspiracy theory about a rarely used vaccine preservative, but did so citing a study that did not exist. Nevertheless, the proposal passed.

The coming months further reinforced the new ACIP agenda. In September, the panel recommended splitting up the common measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) vaccine into separate shots – a move which has no reasonable justification, and is closely associated with the conspiracy theory that the combined vaccine causes autism, originally promoted by disgraced ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield. In December, the panel downgraded recommendations for hepatitis B, removing it for newborns except in specific cases. Then, in January, a major revamp of childhood immunizations was announced nationwide, with six formerly routine vaccines no longer recommended, while some others remained but with massively reduced dosages.

All these changes to vaccine policy, however, are now on hold. Ironically, this doesn’t seem to be entirely because they were recommended by an illegitimate body – it’s also quite substantially the opposite. When RFK Jr. issued his sweeping vaccine changes in January, he did so without ACIP input. Regardless of whether or not the panel would have agreed with the changes, to not include them in the process is illegal – it represents an executive overreach that violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), according to both the plaintiffs – which also include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the American College of Physicians – and, per this week’s ruling, Judge Murphy.

The upshot of both decisions means that the US’s most recent vaccination schedule updates will be halted, at least temporarily. It’s a ruling being celebrated by the plaintiffs – medical professional organizations committed to US citizens’ health – with Andrew P. Racine, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, calling it “an historic and welcomed outcome for children, families, pediatricians and communities across the United States.” 

“For many years the American Academy of Pediatrics, in collaboration with partners in the federal government, recommended a schedule of immunizations to promote children's health and development,” Racine said. “Today's ruling marks an important step toward restoring scientific decision-making that is at the heart of that partnership. Protecting the health and safety of America's children is what prompted the AAP to petition the court for this decision from the outset and that goal will remain our guiding principle."

Not over yet

This week’s decision may be welcome news, but we shouldn’t expect the story to end here. The Department of Health and Human Services has already issued statements against the ruling, telling outlets that “HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing.”

Whether or not their hopes are realized, medical advocates and professionals remain wary of RFK Jr’s continued leadership of HHS. “Today was important, but this battle against Kennedy’s public health malpractice is far from over,” epidemiologist Elizabeth Jacobs, a committee member for advocacy group Defend Public Health, told Ars Technica this week.

 “We’re going to keep a close eye on whatever ACIP does next,” she said, “and stand ready to continue to support the plaintiffs any way we can and to call out RFK Jr.’s anti-science nonsense.”