RFK Jr.'s ‘Grenade’ Tossing Vaccine Moves Weighed by Judge

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is “throwing grenades into the healthcare system” with vaccine policy changes, medical groups said Wednesday as the government eyed dismissal of what it called a mere policy disagreement.

The July lawsuit claims a May directive removing Covid-19 vaccines from the government’s official recommendation list and later firing and reconstitution of a federal panel advising the nation’s vaccine policy are unexplained, illegal moves by the secretary of Department of Health and Human Services.

But the secretary’s moves can’t be challenged because they haven’t harmed doctors or the medical group plaintiffs, the agency’s Department of Justice lawyers told Judge Brian Murphy of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The plaintiffs include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the Infectious Disease Society of America.

Kennedy in May announced in a social media post that the Covid-19 vaccine was pulled from the federal vaccine recommendation for pregnant women and healthy children. The next month he fired 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, refilling the panel with members lacking vaccine expertise or known vaccine skeptics, the groups say.

The lawsuit claims Kennedy is waging an “undeclared war” against the nation’s longstanding vaccine policy system and should have to adequately explain how and why he’s intent making such a firm change of course.

Harm Question

The DOJ’s Isaac Belfer said the CDC October’s recommendation that patients discuss Covid vaccination with their healthcare provider hasn’t created an “impediment to ... operations” of the groups or their member physicians. He added that the medical groups’ claims to having to divert resources to address the changes is also insufficient because “you can’t simply spend a dollar and give yourself standing.”

Murphy, however, found “particularly compelling” the claim that Kennedy has raised the specter of vaccine liability for doctors whose recommendations stray from the list adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Belfer said the liability question isn’t an issue because the CDC’s current guidance only says patients should talk with their doctors about particular vaccines.

The medical groups’ attorney said the harm that gives them standing to sue comes comes in many forms: having to spend time responding to inquiries about the policy shifts, member physicians dedicating time to developing best practices on how to consult with patients, and doctors spending more unreimbursable time consulting with people about the vaccines.

The attorney, James Oh of Epstein Becker & Green PC, said the changes were “a downgrading without justification to cause confusion and vaccine hesitancy” and “undermine public health and trust in vaccines.”

The groups have asked the court to disband the current advisory panel and order it reconstituted because it is no longer fairly balanced as required under federal law and is subject to inappropriate influence.

“There is direct cause and effect,” Oh said, between the healthcare system’s confusion and the secretary’s actions “that are quite frankly, to put it nicely, not supported by evidence, data or science.”

Murphy said he expects to decide whether the case will proceed at least a week before a scheduled Jan. 12 status conference.

The case is Am. Academy of Pediatrics v. Kennedy, D. Mass., 1:25-cv-11916, hearing held 12/17/25.