• Major medical organizations have filed a lawsuit against RFK Jr. over new COVID-19 vaccine policies.
• The lawsuit alleges that Kennedy's decisions threaten public health by removing vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women.
• Health officials claim the changes were made without adhering to established scientific processes.
• The action seeks to restore previous vaccination guidelines and halt enforcement of Kennedy's new policies.

A coalition of several prominent medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians, has launched a lawsuit against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The groups allege that Kennedy’s recent decisions to halt COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women pose a grave risk to public health, characterizing them as unlawful and arbitrary actions that deviate from established scientific standards, according to Newsweek, Reuters, and ABC News.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, claims that Kennedy’s directive, which removed the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC’s immunization schedule for healthy children and those who are pregnant, exemplifies a broader trend of undermining scientific consensus on vaccination. Richard H. Hughes IV, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, emphasized that these actions represent "an existential threat to vaccination in America," a sentiment echoed by other health experts involved in the case, according to HuffPost and The Hill.

The plaintiffs, including various influential health organizations like the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Public Health Association, argue that Kennedy's decision contravenes the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires adherence to established processes when making significant policy changes. They assert that such arbitrary changes can lead to serious public health ramifications and have already caused confusion among healthcare providers and patients, highlighting the direct threats to vulnerable populations, according to ABC News and HuffPost.

The complaint requests both preliminary and permanent injunctions to block the enforcement of the new vaccine recommendations, along with a formal declaration that Kennedy's directive is illegal. Kennedy recently dismissed all members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, raising alarm among the plaintiffs who argue this reorganization is indicative of his campaign against established vaccination protocols, according to Newsweek, Reuters, and The Hill.