A federal judge has blocked Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s childhood vaccine policy changes, stopping the Health and Human Services secretary from altering the recommended immunization schedule and restructuring a key federal vaccine advisory panel.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy issued the ruling Monday, granting a preliminary injunction requested by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The decision pauses the revised immunization guidance and also invalidates votes made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices since its membership was overhauled.
Murphy said the reconstitution of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices did not follow the Federal Advisory Committee Act. He also said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bypassed the advisory group when revising the childhood immunization schedule earlier this year.
“The Court concludes that, in addition to being contrary to law, the issuance of the January 2026 Memo was arbitrary and capricious because it abandoned the agency’s longstanding practice of getting recommendations from ACIP before changing the immunization schedules without sufficient explanation,” Murphy wrote in the ruling.
Last June, Kennedy dismissed all 17 members of the committee, saying the move was necessary to “re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.” He later appointed several figures known for criticizing vaccine policies.
Murphy acknowledged that some of the new members had “extensive expertise” in their respective fields. However, he wrote that there were “glaring gaps” in the level of vaccine-related expertise required for the panel’s work.
“First, of the fifteen members currently on ACIP, even under the most generous reading, only six appear to have any meaningful experience in vaccines—the very focus of ACIP,” Murphy wrote.
The judge specifically named several committee members who appeared to “lack any expertise or professional qualifications related to vaccines or immunization as required by ACIP’s Charter.”
Health and Human Services officials said they plan to appeal the ruling.
“HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing,” department spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement.
An upcoming ACIP meeting scheduled for midweek has now been postponed following the decision.
