U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. leaves the stage after discussing the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey, at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
Several leading medical organizations on Monday filed a suit against theU.S. Department of Health and Human Servicesand its SecretaryRobert F. Kennedy Jr., arguing that current policies on COVID-19 vaccine pose an imminent threat to public health.
The plaintiffs, including theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics,American College of Physicians,American Public Health AssociationandInfectious Diseases Society of America, have asked the court to vacate Kennedy’s recent directive removing the COVID-19 vaccine from theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention’schildhood and pregnant-women immunization schedules.
Representatives for HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic whose department oversees theCDC, has been remaking theU.S.health system to align with PresidentDonald Trump’sgoal of dramatically shrinking the federal government.
He signed a directive in May delisting the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women.
The complainants alleged that such “baseless and uninformed policy” decisions place critical populations at “grave and immediate risk” of preventable illness, long-term harm, or death.
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