Judge temporarily blocks federal health officials from reducing vaccine recommendations for children
FILE - A school nurse gives a child an immunization shot August 8, 2007 in Hialeah, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A judge on Monday temporarily blocked federal health officials from cutting down the number of vaccines recommended for children.
The decision will halt an order given by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.
U.S. scales back childhood vaccine schedule
The U.S. is cutting the number of vaccine recommendations for children, effective immediately.
RFK Jr. may have violated federal law
Dig deeper:
The judge also said Kennedy’s reconstitution of the vaccine advisory panel likely violated federal law. He ordered the appointments — and all decisions made by the reformed committee — put on hold.
Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official, fired the entire 17-member panel last year and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.
The other side:
Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said: "HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing."
States sue over child vaccine policy
The backstory:
In February, over a dozen states sued the Trump administration over its repeal of vaccine recommendations for children.
The states asserted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put children's lives at risk when the agency announced the new recommendations in January.
A number of leading medical groups raised alarms that the vaccine recommendation changes made under Kennedy would undermine protections against a half-dozen diseases. And the American Academy of Pediatrics and some other groups amended a lawsuit they had filed in July, asking the judge to stop the scaling back of the nation’s childhood vaccination schedule.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press and previous reporting by LiveNOW from FOX. This story was reported from San Jose.