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A federal court in Boston today blocked a key government vaccine advisory committee from holding its scheduled meeting this week, and paused changes the committee made to vaccine recommendations under U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.
In a win for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and several other medical organizations, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine policy, will not meet as planned this week.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told The Defender in a statement that it “looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing.”
ACIP had planned to meet March 18-19 to discuss and vote on recommendations related to COVID-19 vaccine injuries, long COVID and how the committee makes its recommendations. The meeting is now stayed.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy’s 45-page ruling also stayed the appointment of 13 new ACIP members appointed between June 2025 and January 2026.
The ruling also stays the changes U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made in January to the CDC’s recommended childhood immunization schedule. Those changes reduced the number of diseases for which children would receive recommended routine vaccinations from 17 to 11.
The AAP had sought an injunction. Instead, Murphy issued stays. There is a legal distinction between an injunction and a stay. An injunction typically prohibits a person or entity from doing something, while a stay pauses an action that is already ongoing or pending.
The AAP sought the injunction as part of a lawsuit they and several other medical groups filed in July 2025.
The groups sued Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over changes to COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women and have amended their lawsuit several times in response to new HHS and CDC policies and recommendations.
In a post on Substack following the ruling, ACIP member Dr. Robert Malone accused the court of “judicial overreach” and framed the ruling as the latest development in a battle between “the administrative state” and “the people’s mandate.” He also suggested that the ruling is likely to be overturned.
“The fight continues,” Malone wrote.
According to STAT, the ruling, while not final, “is a blow to the Trump administration’s overhaul of the nation’s vaccine policies.”
STAT previously reported that the AAP’s lawsuit “has become one of the most closely watched challenges to Kennedy’s sweeping changes of vaccine policy.”
ACIP recommendations were modest, not radical
ACIP usually meets three times a year to review scientific data on the risks and benefits of vaccines and issue vaccine recommendations.
Soon after his confirmation last year, Kennedy dismissed all 17 sitting members of ACIP because their financial ties to Big Pharma posed a conflict of interest.
Critics have accused Kennedy of remaking the committee with members who share his allegedly “anti-vax” views. However, even the most controversial changes recommended by the new committee have been modest.
The new ACIP members have voted to:
- Postpone the birth dose of the hepatitis B (Hep B) vaccine until at least 2 months for infants not at risk for the disease. Starting at age 2 months, the recommendation is “shared clinical decision-making.”
- Recommend that COVID-19 vaccination be based on “individual decision-making” at a time when few people were opting for the vaccine.
- Recommend that thimerosal be eliminated from flu vaccines for children. Thimerosal was eliminated from all other child vaccines decades ago.
ACIP holds significant power when it comes to children’s vaccines.
That’s because federal law requires the federally funded Vaccines for Children Program to follow ACIP’s recommended vaccine schedule.
The HHS secretary also relies on ACIP’s recommendations when purchasing, distributing and paying for pediatric vaccines.
Earlier this month, Kennedy added two new members to ACIP, including a COVID-19 vaccine critic.
ACIP had originally been scheduled to meet Feb. 25-27, but that meeting was canceled after the CDC missed the deadline for announcing it in the Federal Register. However, HHS was already under pressure to postpone the meeting due to AAP’s lawsuit.
A Washington Post report last week suggested that Kennedy “had a plan to target covid shots. Then it fell apart.” However, an HHS insider told The Defender last week, on condition of anonymity, that this report was incorrect and contained “assumptions” and “significant errors.”
Related articles in The Defender
- Federal Judge Clears Path for AAP to Sue RFK Jr. Over Vaccine Policy Changes
- Breaking: Children’s Health Defense Hits AAP With RICO Suit Over Fraudulent Vaccine Safety Claims
- CDC Vaccine Advisers Won’t Meet Next Week, No New Date Set
- AAP, Other Medical Groups Want Court to Block New CDC Vaccine Schedule
- Breaking: HHS Makes Sweeping Changes to Childhood Vaccine Schedule
- Washington Post Wrong on ACIP’s COVID Vaccine Plan, HHS Insider Says
