States sue Trump administration over changes to vaccine recommendations for children | US healthcare
More than a dozen states, including California, have sued the Trump administration over its rollback of vaccine recommendations for children, saying the move is an unlawful threat to public health.
States argue that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put children’s lives at risk when it announced last month that it would stop recommending vaccinations for all children against influenza, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. Under the new guidance, which has been met with criticism from medical experts, protection against these diseases is recommended only for certain groups considered high-risk or if doctors recommend them through so-called “shared decision-making”.
States including Arizona and California said the new vaccine recommendations ignored longstanding medical guidance and would cause states to spend more to protect against outbreaks.
“The health and safety of children across the country is not a political issue,” Democrat Kris Mayes, Arizona’s attorney general, said at a news conference Tuesday. “This is not a culture war talking point.”
Emily G Hilliard, press secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, called the complaint “a publicity stunt disguised as a lawsuit.”
The case is between Democratic-led states and the Trump administration, with the federal government’s health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr. escalating an ongoing battle over his administration’s changes to public health policy. The Trump administration laid off thousands of workers at federal public health agencies, cut funding for scientific research and changed government guidance on fluoride and other issues.
Kennedy fired all members of his vaccine advisory committee last year and replaced them with his own picks; Tuesday’s complaint alleges this is illegal.
The lawsuit comes months after the Democratic governors of California, Washington state and Oregon formed an alliance to create their own vaccine recommendations. Governors said the Trump administration was putting people’s health at risk by politicizing the CDC.
States, not the federal government, have the authority to mandate vaccines for schoolchildren, but the CDC’s requirements often influence state regulations.
