Pediatrics Group Says It Plans to Sue CDC Over Updated Vaccine Schedule

The American Academy of Pediatrics also wants to block the next meeting of the CDC’s vaccine advisers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 25, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Health groups said on Jan. 9 they plan to sue the government over recent changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine schedule for children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups, which are challenging the CDC’s earlier narrowing of COVID-19 vaccine guidance, said in a filing in that case that they are going to file a motion seeking permission from the court to challenge the CDC’s rolling back of some vaccine recommendations.

“Plaintiffs have provided Defendants notice of their intention to seek leave to amend the Third Amended Complaint to challenge a new final agency action—Defendants’ recent actions to revise the childhood and adolescent immunization schedule,” the litigants stated.

They want an injunction against the changes, which would force the government to revert to the previous schedule.

The plaintiffs also plan to ask the court to bar the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, known as ACIP, from holding a meeting that is currently slated to take place on Feb. 25 and Feb. 26, based on claims that false and misleading information was put forth at the last meeting, which happened in December 2025.

“Plaintiffs plan to move to enjoin the next meeting to prevent this ACIP from spreading more misinformation to the public,” the groups said.

The filing was lodged with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Prior to the recent vaccine schedule changes, the CDC stopped recommending COVID-19 vaccination to healthy children and pregnant women. The agency was following orders from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The American Academy of Pediatrics—whose partners include vaccine manufacturers—and other organizations sued, alleging the changes were illegally arbitrary and capricious.

Government lawyers said that later changes made the lawsuit moot, but U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy disagreed. On Jan. 6, he rejected the government’s motion to dismiss the case, finding that Kennedy’s directive was not moot and that there are indications the health secretary’s remaking of ACIP violated federal law.

Murphy ordered the plaintiffs and defendants to submit a proposed schedule for upcoming motions and other matters in the litigation.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other plaintiffs told the judge that, in addition to rulings blocking the schedule changes and the upcoming ACIP meeting, they want documents related to the changes. The relevant timeframe is between Dec. 5, 2025, when President Donald Trump directed Kennedy and the acting CDC director to explore making changes based on how other countries handle vaccines, and Jan. 5, 2026, when the changes were announced, they said.

They also want documents related to the selection of agenda items and speakers for the three most recent ACIP meetings.

Government lawyers said in the joint filing with plaintiffs on Friday that the CDC’s recent update to the vaccination schedule “is beyond the scope of this case” because it is not covered in the third amended complaint. They also pointed to a press release on the changes they said would “provide a factual record on which the Court could evaluate, for purposes of a preliminary injunction motion.”

As for the scheduled February advisory meeting, the government said defendants “are under no obligation to produce records related to this meeting” because it is not part of the third amended complaint. Even if they were, no records exist for the meeting as of yet, they added.