Davenport sues RFK Jr. over changes to vaccine schedule

Federal health officials last month slashed the number of vaccines recommended for children, and Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced Tuesday that New Jersey is joining a lawsuit challenging the move.

Federal health authorities had universally recommended vaccinations that protected against 17 diseases, but last month’s changes to the schedule cut six from the list, including Hepatitis A and B and RSV. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the adjustments bring the country’s schedule in line with other developed nations, but state officials said the policy only stifles access to safe vaccines and puts the health of children at risk.

“Protecting children is a priority for our office,” Davenport said in a release. “Compare that to the Trump Administration and Secretary Kennedy, whose reckless approach to public health policy gambles with children’s lives and puts our communities in danger. RFK, Jr., replaced established experts with an unqualified vaccine panel and issued a rogue vaccine schedule that gambles with children’s health and lives.”

In December, President Donald Trump issued a memo directing Kennedy to examine how other countries set up their vaccine schedule and to adjust the schedule if “superior” approaches are found.

“After an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent,” Kennedy said in a statement last month. “This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health.”

Democrats have argued the move emboldens anti-vaccine activists despite evidence proving the efficacy and safety of immunizations.

“As someone who’s spent a career working to build that trust, it’s indefensible that our federal health institutions are now undermining it,” acting Health Commissioner Raynard Washington said in the release. “These reckless vaccine policies not only hurt public trust; they will lead to preventable suffering and death.”

The states argue that a memo undergirding the decision was not based on any scientific data, and they argue the memo ignores the “overwhelming evidence” showing the effectiveness of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s prior vaccine schedule.

They also argue that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a board tasked with helping the CDC develop vaccination recommendations, was unlawfully emptied and filled with unqualified members. Kennedy removed all 17 members of ACIP last summer, and the states say they were replaced by 13 Kennedy-appointed members, the majority of whom lack “the expertise or professional qualifications required for the role.” 

The lawsuit asks a judge to rule that the new schedule, as well as Kennedy’s appointments to ACIP, are unlawful.

“This radical and unlawful overhaul of the nation’s childhood vaccine schedule rests on fringe theories and ignores decades of science,” Davenport said. “I will continue to protect New Jersey families from these senseless attacks on science and their children’s health.”

The 15 states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, will file the suit in California federal court.

In a similar case, the American Academy of Pediatrics asked a judge to invalidate Kennedy’s changes to ACIP and the vaccine schedule.