WASHINGTON (February 10, 2026) — A coalition of leading public health organizations and distinguished health, law and policy scholars has filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts warning that recent federal actions weakening routine childhood vaccination recommendations pose an urgent threat both for children and the public’s health.
The brief, filed in American Academy of Pediatrics, et al. v. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., et al. supports the plaintiffs’ challenge to actions taken by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services since May 2025; those actions eliminated or weakened routine vaccination recommendations for multiple pediatric vaccines - including Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, meningococcal disease, rotavirus, influenza and COVID-19.
According to data cited in the filing, routine childhood vaccinations have prevented more than 500 million illnesses, 32 million hospitalizations, and over 1.1 million deaths in the United States over the past three decades.
“Recent federal actions weaken the nation’s routine vaccine recommendations, which protect people, particularly children, from serious diseases,”said Anne Markus, Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and one of the amici on the brief. “We are asking the court to consider the science backing the vaccine recommendations that were in place in the early months of 2025. Restoring that vaccine schedule would save millions of lives.”
Amici include 119 nationally recognized deans and scholars with decades of expertise in public health, medicine, law and policy, as well as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Thoracic Society, the Network for Public Health Law, the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
Key findings of the amicus brief:
- According to the CDC, immunizations against serious and deadly illnesses represent one of public health's greatest advances. The brief warns that weakening routine recommendations ignores the substantial scientific evidence and will have cascading impacts on the health of our children, including vaccine-preventable outbreaks, preventable hospitalizations, and unnecessary deaths.
- Beginning in 2025, HHS leadership pursued a series of actions that have disrupted pediatric vaccine access and have created serious uncertainty among families despite overwhelming evidence of safety and effectiveness. These actions were undertaken without evidence to support the new policies and in violation of the federal laws and formal procedural standards that guide the formation and modification of the CDC childhood immunization schedule.
- Eliminating routine recommendations will burden the broader health care system - confusing parents, burdening clinicians, limiting pharmacy access, disrupting state vaccination programs, and weakening protections for immunocompromised individuals who rely on high community vaccination rates.
The brief can be accessed here.
The amici are represented by Foley Hoag LLP.
Amici sign as individuals and not as representatives of their respective institutions.
-GW-