NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s order as it tries to cut the number of vaccines recommended for every child in the United States.
The appeal filed Wednesday was a response to a that blocked the decision by President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, for all children to be vaccinated against , rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV, a respiratory virus.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy’s order also stopped a meeting of a Kennedy-appointed .
The judge’s order remains in effect while the appeal is considered.
The government’s one-sentence filing did not say why the block should be lifted. U.S. health officials did not immediately comment on the filing, or respond to a question about why they waited six weeks to file an appeal.
The appeal is the latest development in a lawsuit filed in July by the American Academy of Pediatrics and some other medical groups. The lawsuit in federal court in Boston originally focused on Kennedy鈥檚 decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for most children and pregnant women.
The lawsuit was updated as Kennedy took more steps that alarmed medical societies, causing the plaintiffs to ask Murphy to take steps to address those policy changes too.
For example, the plaintiffs amended the lawsuit to stop the scaling back of the nation鈥檚 childhood vaccination schedule. They also asked the court to look at Kennedy鈥檚 actions concerning the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises public health officials on what vaccines to recommend to doctors and patients.
Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation鈥檚 top health official, fired the entire 17-member panel last year and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.
Murphy, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Joe Biden, said Kennedy鈥檚 reconstitution of ACIP likely violated federal law. The judge ordered the appointments 鈥� and all decisions made by the reformulated committee 鈥� put on hold.
Earlier this month, the Republican administration to broadens qualifications for panel members in ways that would allow the inclusion of Kennedy allies. That move did not resolve the legal challenge, according to Richard Hughes IV, a lawyer representing the pediatrics group.
Hughes this week said he was disappointed that the government decided to appeal but said he expected to prevail. He pledged to bring an end to Kennedy’s 鈥渟teady destruction of vaccine policy and public health.鈥�
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