RFK Jr.’s Former Group Appeals Block of New CDC Vaccine Schedule

The judge’s order ‘is a permanent leash on federal vaccine policy,’ an attorney said. ‘It cannot stand.’

A child receives a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Fairfax County Government Center in Annandale, Va., on Nov. 4, 2021. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

An organization founded by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appealed a federal judge’s order on March 25 that blocked a new childhood vaccine schedule implemented by the Trump administration with support from the health secretary.

Lawyers representing Children’s Health Defense, the organization, and other proposed intervenors in the litigation appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

In an emergency motion yet to be filed, the attorneys will ask the appeals court to quickly stay a March 16 order from District Judge Brian Murphy that rolled back multiple updates to vaccine recommendations, including the new schedule unveiled in January.

Murphy additionally blocked Kennedy’s appointments to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a federal panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on immunization.

The attorneys will also seek First Circuit approval to intervene in the litigation, which was brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other groups against the government. Murphy turned down their motion to intervene in February.

Rick Jaffe, one of the lawyers, said Children’s Health Defense and the individuals he represents were acting in part because the Trump administration has not yet appealed Murphy’s order, referencing how ACIP members have said they were told that officials would be reconstituting ACIP rather than appealing.

“If Kennedy’s advisors are telling him there’s nothing to do and that the solution is to just reappoint a new ACIP committee, they’re wrong,” Jaffe wrote in a blog post, noting that Murphy found the appointment process carried out by Kennedy and others “was tainted.”

“Any new appointments will need to satisfy whatever ‘balance’ criteria Murphy has in mind, criteria the opinion never defines. Kennedy will need Judge Murphy’s permission before ACIP can reconvene. And every future action Kennedy takes on vaccines that AAP doesn’t like will produce another amended complaint, another [injunction] motion, and possibly a contempt proceeding. Murphy’s order is a permanent leash on federal vaccine policy. It cannot stand.”

Children’s Health Defense previously sued AAP, alleging it violated federal law by promoting the vaccine schedule as safe and tested without adequate evidence. That case is ongoing.

In the wake of Murphy’s ruling, the government canceled a scheduled ACIP meeting. It has not marked or taken down the new childhood vaccine schedule.

The Department of Health and Human Services has declined to confirm whether the administration plans to appeal, after a spokesman initially stated that officials were confident an appeal would prevail.

“Unless officially announced by us, any assertions about what we are doing next is baseless speculation,” Andrew Nixon, the spokesman, told The Epoch Times on March 20.

Dr. Robert Malone speaks during a meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 5, 2025. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Dr. Robert Malone, one of the ACIP members, said on March 25 he would no longer be serving on the panel, even if an appeals court reverses Murphy.

Malone told The Epoch Times in a text message that among his reasons for leaving was “the abject failure of [the Department of Justice] to mount a credible defense to the AAP lawsuit.”

Jaffe said that he expects the case will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.