Aiming to reverse recent changes to federal vaccine recommendations, 15 states led by Democrats announced on Tuesday that they were suing the Trump administration.
The lawsuit, filed by a coalition of 14 attorneys general and the governor of Pennsylvania, asks the courts to nullify the administration’s decision in January to reduce the number of diseases children are routinely immunized against to 11 from 17.
It also challenges “the unlawful replacement” of members of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, who recommend vaccines for Americans.
The suit names the Department of Health and Human Services and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as defendants. It also names the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.
“The Trump administration’s attacks on science are irresponsible and dangerous,” Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, said in a statement.
“It will also drive up costs for states, including increased Medicaid spending and new expenses to combat misinformation and revise public health guidance,” he said.
The lawsuit contends that the administration’s new vaccination schedule was not based on any scientific evidence, relying instead on comparisons to countries that are significantly different from the United States.
The new schedule most closely resembles the recommendations made in Denmark, a country with nationalized health care and a population that is a fraction of that of the United States.
The schedule’s announcement bypassed A.C.I.P., the advisory panel that recommends which shots Americans should receive and when. The committee’s decisions have typically guided states in determining the vaccines they require for entry into day care and elementary school. And insurance companies are required to cover the shots the members recommend.
Mr. Kennedy fired all 17 previous panelists in June. The new members he has appointed since share his skepticism of vaccines and mandates.
They have rescinded several recommendations for childhood shots, including immunization of all newborns against hepatitis B, a highly infectious virus that can severely damage the liver.
The lawsuit by Democratic states is similar to one filed in July by six medical organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics. The organizations sued the Health Department after Mr. Kennedy announced on social media that Covid vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children or pregnant women.
They, too, argued that Mr. Kennedy and his appointees have made “arbitrary and capricious” changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, bypassing the usual practice of carefully reviewing evidence over months or years before making new recommendations.
More than 100 public health experts and organizations this month have filed an amicus brief in support of that lawsuit, which also seeks to reverse the new schedule and to stop the new advisers from meeting.
A federal court in Massachusetts heard arguments in that case this month and is expected to rule in the coming days.
Apoorva Mandavilli reports on science and global health for The Times, with a focus on infectious diseases and pandemics and the public health agencies that try to manage them.
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