USA: Medical groups sue HHS, RFK Jr. over 'unlawful' vaccine changes

Several major medical organizations filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday over what they are calling "unlawful, unilateral vaccine changes."

The six groups -- including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) -- as well as a pregnant woman filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The organizations, representing paediatricians, infectious disease physicians and public health professionals, accused the HHS and Kennedy of intentionally taking away vaccines, such as the COVID-19 vaccine, and unjustly replacing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) entire vaccine advisory panel.

The lawsuit seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions to enjoin Kennedy's new COVID vaccine recommendations and a declaratory judgment pronouncing the change as unlawful.

Kennedy "has been on a warpath. It's gotten to the point that we are going to ... ask the court to put a stop to it," Richard H. Hughes IV, a partner at Epstein Becker Green and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, told ABC News. "This decision to unilaterally overturn the COVID recommendation based on a history of bias -- it was an arbitrary, capricious decision. They didn't make any effort to follow any ordinary processes."

Hughes said the HHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act, a U.S. federal law that establishes procedures federal agencies must follow when making rules.

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Source: ABC News, 7 July 2025