A Massive Win for Public Health: AAP v. RFK Jr.
Federal judge blocks RFK Jr's efforts to overhaul US vaccine policy
I’m married to a lawyer, and I have to say, this was one of the most poetic pieces of legal writing I’ve ever seen. Judge Brian Murphy started his historic ruling with a Carl Sagan quote: “Science, like law, is far from a perfect instrument of knowledge,” but it’s still, “the best we have.”
My colleagues and I at Defend Public Health had the great honor of supporting this lawsuit by submitting two Amicus Briefs to the court, in support of the lawsuit filed against RFK Jr. by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and three other health organizations. You can read them here and here. It is incredibly humbling to witness a judge completely get it. His ruling demands a return to scientific standards for the proper review of data (like the evidence to recommendation (EtR) framework) since the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) made arbitrary and capricious decisions, ignoring long-used, and well-regarded scientific processes for developing vaccine policies. He argued that the “government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.”
Truly poetic, and powerful.
Here’s What Today’s Ruling Means in 2 Parts
Part 1
The firing of the 17 ACIP members and the appointment of the 13 current members by RFK Jr. violates federal law, specifically the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), thereby making their appointment invalid.
Effectively, that means without a valid committee, ACIP cannot meet this week or for the foreseeable future.
It also means that since their appointments are invalid, all of their previous votes as ACIP members are thereby invalid.
Part 2
The decision in January to reduce the pediatric vaccine schedule from 17 to 11 was done outside of scientific standards and thereby invalid.
Effectively, that means that the previous pre-RFK Jr. vaccine schedule is upheld, and any decisions or votes to deschedule vaccines to shared clinical decision making (SCDM) are cancelled.
Specifically, this restores the Hepatitis B birth dose recommendation. This is significant since we’ve already seen a drop in uptake since January.
This restores MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella) vaccines and thimerosal in vaccines (which were only used in multi-dose flu vaccines).
OK, so What is MAHA/ACIP Going to Do in Response?
We know they are quite mad already. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed that they plan to appeal the ruling with the hope of overturning the judge’s decision.
Here are a few scenarios that could play out:
They could replace the 13 ACIP members with new members. But it would likely have to be in accordance with FACA rules, given the judge’s ruling. This seems unlikely.
They could reinstate some of the previous ACIP members for the purpose of satisfying some of the FACA rules and meeting quorum. This seems extremely unlikely.
They could meet in an unofficial convening, outside of the banner of ACIP and CDC, perhaps to grumble about medical tranny, and continue to spread vaccine propaganda. This seems likely and immature.
They could completely defy the order and proceed as if nothing had happened today. This would be a terrible precedent for the rule of law. We’ve seen them defy orders in the past, so this seems possible.
Some important considerations:
While insurance companies have committed to paying for vaccines through 2026, the uncertainty of ACIP highlights the uncertainty of vaccine access and coverage in 2027 and beyond. It is also unclear how this will impact the availability of flu and COVID-19 vaccines for the upcoming respiratory virus season. Given the volatility of this situation, we expect the next few days and weeks to be eventful—with many updates to come.
I invite you to share this post and follow along for more news as it comes. As always, my job here is to make science and public health make sense.
JMR