By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.

The Trump administration on Wednesday appealed last month’s federal court ruling that blocked changes U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made to the childhood immunization schedule and a key federal vaccine advisory committee.

In its filing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said it would appeal the March 16 ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in a lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and others against Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

HHS will likely file the appeal with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the coming days, legal experts told The Defender. According to The Washington Post, Murphy’s stays will remain in effect while the appeal is pending.

Last year, the AAP and six medical groups sued HHS and Kennedy over changes to COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women. The groups later amended the suit to include other changes to federal vaccine policy.

In February, the plaintiffs sought an emergency injunction to reject new members Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), pause the recommendations they made, and cancel the committee’s March meeting.

ACIP advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine policy.

Murphy’s ruling stayed those changes — and also stayed changes to the childhood immunization schedule that reduced the number of diseases for which children would receive recommended routine vaccinations from 17 to 11.

Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), said she is “grateful” that HHS appealed the ruling. “The trial court’s judgment needs reconsideration at the higher court.”

Richard H. Hughes IV, an attorney representing AAP, said he was “disappointed” that the government decided to appeal, STAT reported.

“I have remained optimistic that [the government] would not want to relitigate issues on which it is bound to lose. We will, in due course, respond to the government’s appeal and we expect to prevail,” Hughes said. Hughes previously suggested that the case may reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The AAP — the nation’s largest pediatric trade group, with 67,000 members — receives funding from several vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer, Moderna, Merck and Sanofi.

CHD also appealed Murphy’s ruling

The government’s appeal comes shortly after CHD appealed the March 16 ruling and the same court’s Feb. 27 denial of CHD’s motion to intervene in the AAP’s lawsuit against HHS.

CHD argued that the court must also hear from people injured by previous U.S. vaccine policy.

Judicial precedent that allows parties who argue they were wrongfully denied the opportunity to intervene in a case to appeal a ruling affecting their interests allowed CHD to appeal Murphy’s ruling in AAP’s lawsuit against HHS.

Holland said HHS’ appeal “may strengthen CHD’s appeal, but that’s not clear.”

Earlier this month, Kennedy and HHS updated ACIP’s charter, expanding membership criteria, sharpening the focus on vaccine injuries and opening the door to more dissenting voices.

Legal experts suggested the revisions may enable Kennedy to bypass Murphy’s ruling and revive the changes he made to national vaccine policy.

STAT reported that it was previously unclear whether the government would opt to appeal the March 16 ruling, in light of the changes made to ACIP’s charter.

In an April 20 motion, CHD argued that because HHS rewrote ACIP’s charter, the basis for the March 16 ruling that stayed the appointment of the new ACIP members appointed by Kennedy and invalidated their recommendations no longer exists.

Holland said it’s still uncertain whether ACIP’s rewritten charter will affect the case.

“The changes to the ACIP charter may impact the case, but precisely how remains to be seen,” Holland said.

In an interview with The Defender earlier this month, Retsef Levi, Ph.D., a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and one of the new members Kennedy appointed to ACIP, called Murphy’s ruling “highly politicized.” Levi said Murphy was “unqualified” to judge ACIP members’ credentials.

ACIP is slated to meet again in late June, but it remains unknown whether this meeting will take place and with which slate of members. NBC News reported that the DOJ may file a motion for emergency relief that would oblige the 1st Circuit to quickly review its appeal.

In late January, the AAP announced that it will continue to advise routine childhood immunization against 18 diseases rather than follow the new CDC recommendations.

Last year, AAP published its own “evidence-based” childhood vaccination schedule, which several states and cities subsequently adopted.

In January, CHD and five other plaintiffs sued the AAP, accusing it of running a decades-long racketeering scheme to defraud the public about the safety of the CDC’s childhood vaccination schedule.

Related articles in The Defender

• Breaking: Federal Court Blocks ACIP Meeting, Changes to Childhood Vaccine Schedule
• Children’s Health Defense Seeks to Upend Ruling in High-Profile Vaccine Lawsuit
• Children’s Health Defense Will Appeal Rulings in High-Profile Vaccine Lawsuit
• Exclusive: ‘Unqualified’ Judge to Blame for ‘Highly Politicized’ Ruling Against RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Advisers
• RFK Jr. Overhauls ACIP Rules to Focus More on Vaccine Injuries
• Breaking: Children’s Health Defense Hits AAP With RICO Suit Over Fraudulent Vaccine Safety Claims

The post Federal Government Appeals Ruling in AAP Lawsuit that Struck Down RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Policies appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.

 

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