The American Academy of Pediatrics v. Kennedy vaccine lawsuit is a federal challenge brought in July 2025 by seven medical and public health organizations against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging that his unilateral changes to federal vaccine policy violated the Administrative Procedure Act. In March 2026, a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked most of those changes. The government appealed, and the case is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
What Kennedy Did
Kennedy was sworn in as HHS Secretary on February 13, 2025. Within weeks, his department canceled the CDC’s flu vaccination awareness campaign, postponed a scheduled meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and canceled a separate FDA advisory committee meeting on the following season’s flu vaccine composition.
On May 19, 2025, Kennedy signed a directive ordering the CDC to remove the COVID-19 vaccine from its recommended immunization schedules for healthy children and pregnant women. He announced the directive on X on May 27, 2025.
On June 9, 2025, Kennedy fired all 17 sitting members of ACIP and began appointing replacements. The eight initial appointees included Dr. Robert Malone, a biochemist and critic of mRNA technology; Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration; and Vicky Pebsworth, a board member of the National Vaccine Information Center. The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other groups condemned the appointments as rushed and lacking the immunology and vaccinology expertise ACIP members traditionally hold. Kennedy defended his picks as “highly credentialed physicians and scientists” committed to evidence-based medicine.
In January 2026, Kennedy ordered a new childhood immunization schedule that reduced the number of diseases targeted by routinely recommended vaccines from 17 to 11. The revision dropped broad federal recommendations for flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, certain meningococcal vaccines, and RSV for all children.
Who Sued and What They Argue
The complaint was filed on July 7, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts as Case No. 1:25-cv-11916. The plaintiffs are the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, joined by an anonymous pregnant physician identified as “Jane Doe.” The complaint was later amended to cover the broader set of actions Kennedy took through early 2026, including the ACIP restructuring and the overhauled childhood schedule.
The claims rest primarily on the Administrative Procedure Act. The plaintiffs argue that Kennedy’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious,” failed to follow required procedures, and were “contrary to law.” Their core theory is that Congress designed the federal vaccine schedule to be driven by evidence-based recommendations from ACIP, not by unilateral decisions of a political appointee.
To make that point, the complaint traces how ACIP’s work is woven into federal statutes. The Affordable Care Act ties insurance coverage of vaccines to ACIP’s schedule. The Vaccines for Children program under the Social Security Act funds childhood immunizations based on ACIP recommendations. Medicare Part D, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and Veterans’ Health Administration mandates reference ACIP as well. The plaintiffs contend that this statutory architecture means the CDC director cannot simply disregard the committee, and that Kennedy’s actions rendered those congressional mandates meaningless.
The plaintiffs also point to Kennedy’s Senate confirmation testimony, where he said he would “do nothing as HHS Secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines.” They seek a declaratory judgment that the challenged actions are unlawful, along with preliminary and permanent injunctions.
The March 2026 Preliminary Injunction
On March 16, 2026, U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in substantial part. Murphy, a Biden nominee confirmed in December 2024, found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their APA claims.
The ruling blocked three categories of Kennedy’s actions:
- The January 2026 childhood vaccine schedule was stayed, reverting recommendations to their pre-overhaul state.
- The 13 ACIP appointments Kennedy made after June 2025 were put on hold, with the court finding that the reconstitution likely violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
- All votes cast by the reconstituted committee were stayed, preventing the CDC from implementing any recommendation changes those votes produced.
Murphy found that Kennedy’s administration had “disregarded” the established scientific methods for changing vaccine recommendations, which he described as “scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements.” The opinion said the government had bypassed ACIP when making schedule changes, abandoned the rigorous screening process that had long governed committee appointments, and replaced qualified members without adequate justification.
The court rejected the government’s argument that immunization schedules are merely non-binding guidance. Instead, Murphy found they constitute final agency action, because they determine legal liability for healthcare providers under the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act and dictate patient entitlements to care. The injunction effectively froze the reconstituted ACIP and prevented it from holding further meetings.
The Appeal and a Revised ACIP Charter
The Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal with the First Circuit on April 29, 2026, challenging the preliminary injunction. The government followed with motions to stay the injunction pending appeal, and the court issued orders on those motions on May 1 and May 6, 2026.
In April 2026, HHS revised the ACIP charter in what appeared to be an effort to address the court’s concerns. The new charter expanded qualifications for committee membership to include expertise in toxicology, pediatric neurodevelopment, and “recovery from serious vaccine injuries.” It added non-voting liaison organizations including the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Physicians for Informed Consent, and the Medical Academy of Pediatrics and Special Needs. The charter’s budget was raised to $1.08 million from $410,000, and the requirement that the committee meet at least three times per year was removed. As of mid-2026, the court had not specifically ruled on whether the revised charter cures the legal problems identified in the March opinion.
The case remains active in both the district court and the First Circuit. A joint status report was due on June 24, 2026, and discovery-related proceedings continue while the appeal moves forward.
What Has Happened While the Case Has Been Pending
The policy changes at issue have coincided with rising rates of vaccine-preventable disease. The CDC recorded 2,286 measles cases in 2025, the highest total in more than three decades. By mid-June 2026, U.S. measles cases for the year had already exceeded 1,700. During congressional hearings in April 2026, lawmakers cited nearly 4,000 total measles cases across 2025 and 2026, including the deaths of two children in Texas. Asked whether a child’s life could have been saved by the measles vaccine, Kennedy said “it’s possible, certainly.”
States have moved on their own. By early 2026, at least 28 states and the District of Columbia had departed from CDC vaccine guidance, with most adopting the American Academy of Pediatrics’ independently published 2026 immunization schedule as their benchmark. A Northeast Public Health Collaborative of ten states and New York City formed, along with a West Coast Health Alliance of California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. Fourteen Democratic governors created a separate public health alliance to share information, and 15 Democrat-led states filed their own federal lawsuit seeking to reverse Kennedy’s guidelines. Major medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, began issuing their own independent vaccine schedules rather than rely on federal recommendations.