A federal judge in Boston on Monday blocked major changes to U.S. vaccine policy pushed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including efforts to reduce the number of federally recommended childhood vaccinations.
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy issued a stay on decisions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel after finding that Kennedy improperly replaced the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Murphy wrote that the administration disregarded the long-used scientific process for developing vaccine policy and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.
The ruling halts the appointments of 13 members Kennedy named since firing the prior ACIP roster in June 2025. Those new members, many of whom have criticized vaccines, had supported a series of contentious recommendations, including advising that all infants receive hepatitis B vaccination at birth. A meeting of ACIP scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday — expected to raise questions about COVID-19 vaccines and broader changes to how federal vaccine policy is set — was postponed.
The lawsuit was brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other health organizations, and was supported by infectious disease experts. “Today’s ruling is a historic and welcome outcome for children, communities, and pediatricians everywhere,” said Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the pediatric academy. Richard Hughes, counsel for the plaintiffs, called the decision “a significant victory for public health, evidence-based medicine, the rule of law, and the American people.”
The Department of Health and Human Services said it will appeal. HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the department looks forward to overturning the ruling and criticized the judge’s intervention.
