California, Arizona slam White House for upending kid vaccination schedule

(CN) — Democratic attorneys general from California and Arizona sued the Trump administration Tuesday over recent actions that stripped universally recommended status from seven childhood vaccines and unlawfully replaced members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advisory committee on immunization practices with vaccine skeptics.

In December, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s newly appointed advisory committee reversed nearly 30 years of CDC policy by dropping the recommendation for a universal hepatitis B birth dose — a vaccine that is up to 90% effective in preventing perinatal infection when administered within 24 hours of birth. 

Then on Jan. 5, at Kennedy's recommendation, the CDC demoted from the recommended childhood schedule vaccines that protect against rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, Covid-19, and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. The vaccines will instead be given to high-risk patients and in "shared clinical decision-making" situations.

Joined by 13 other Democratic-led states, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes say the changes have sown chaos and confusion that undermine public trust in vaccines and endanger potentially millions of lives. 

“This wasn’t based on any new science. It wasn’t based on any expert consensus. It was based on an ideological agenda. One that Secretary Kennedy has been pushing for years,” Mayes said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

Routine childhood vaccinations have prevented approximately 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and over 1.1 million deaths, generating $2.7 trillion in societal savings according to the CDC's own data. 

The complaint, filed Tuesday afternoon in the Northern District of California, names Kennedy and Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya as defendants.

In June, Kennedy abruptly fired all 17 voting members of the vaccine advisory committee and replaced them with people who the attorneys general say lack the scientific qualifications required by the CDC’s own charter and the Federal Advisory Committee Act. At least nine of the 13 current ACIP members lack the expertise or professional qualifications required for the role and have publicly expressed anti-vaccine opinions, according to the lawsuit. 

“RFK jr and his CDC are violating the law and making a mockery of what should be the nation's leading voice in vaccinations and endangering our children,” Bonta said in the press conference. “I refuse to allow RFK Jr. to threaten the health and wellbeing of the more than 8 million young people who call the Golden State home.”

Last year, the state of California froze its vaccine recommendations to reflect the advisory council’s opinions before its members were replaced. The American Academy of Pediatrics has released its own vaccine guidelines as a counter to the CDC.

Bonta said California still has standing to sue because the challenged actions strain state resources required to combat doubt and confusion sown by new guidelines. Mayes said new infrastructure will need to be built to correct misinformation and treat new outbreaks of diseases once considered no longer a threat. 

“Diseases cross state lines,” Mayes said. “Democratic states are doing whatever we can to fill in this gap. And we are surrounded by states with republican AGs that are not challenging this.”

Mayes said that’s already happening, as measles continues to spread in northern Arizona as well as Utah and Texas. 

The plaintiffs want a federal judge to declare the new vaccine schedule unlawful and to vacate all 17 vaccine advisory council appointments made by Kennedy. 

“The fact is vaccines save lives and save our states money,” Bonta said. “To get rid of them is illogical and unconscionable. To get rid of them in this way is illegal.”

The CDC has not responded to a request for comment.

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