A coalition of 16 US state attorneys general has filed a lawsuit against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging that his recent revisions to the childhood immunisation schedule bypassed legal procedures and compromise public health protections. The case highlights ongoing tensions over vaccine requirements and government authority amid fears of reduced vaccination rates and preventable diseases.
A coalition of 16 state attorneys general has filed a fresh legal challenge against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the US health secretary, over what they say is an unlawful rewrite of the childhood immunisation schedule. The suit seeks to restore the earlier vaccine recommendations and to block a policy shift that, according to the states, stripped away protection against several serious illnesses, including hepatitis B, flu, respiratory syncytial virus and meningitis. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the overhaul ignored federal law and scientific evidence, while California and other states have made similar arguments in parallel litigation.
At the centre of the case is the claim that the administration pushed through the change without following the usual administrative process. The complaint also attacks the removal of seven childhood vaccines from the universally recommended list in the CDC’s January 2026 policy, which public health officials say significantly narrowed routine protection for children across the country. According to the New York attorney general’s office, the new schedule abandoned decades of science-based guidance and could leave more children ill, hospitalised or worse.
The lawsuit also takes aim at the restructuring of the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices, the expert panel that has long advised the federal government on vaccine policy. State officials say the dismissal of the committee’s 17 voting members in June 2025 and their replacement with people lacking comparable experience was carried out without the required safeguards. The states argue that the revamped panel then helped approve the cuts to hepatitis B protection, deepening their claim that the process was both arbitrary and unlawful.
Supporters of the legal challenge say the stakes are measurable. In a joint statement cited by the states, routine vaccination from 1994 through 2023 prevented an estimated 508 million cases of disease, 32 million hospitalisations and more than 1.1 million deaths, while saving the health-care system about $2.7 trillion. Public health groups have used those figures to argue that weakening the schedule would not merely alter federal guidance, but could also drive down vaccination rates and force local governments to spend heavily to repair the damage.
The case is the latest in a widening fight over vaccine policy under Kennedy, whose long-standing scepticism towards routine immunisation has drawn repeated criticism from doctors and state officials. FactCheck.org reported in August that Kennedy and President Donald Trump repeated false or misleading claims as the White House moved to promote what it called “gold standard” childhood vaccine recommendations, while the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups have also sued to stop the revised schedule. With multiple lawsuits now moving through the courts, the dispute has become a broader test of how far the federal government can go in reshaping childhood health policy.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
