Officials said they would quickly appeal.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine schedule for children.
The judge also stayed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointments to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee.
Here’s what to know.
Stay of Vaccine Schedule Update
The CDC, with backing from Kennedy, in January stopped broadly recommending six vaccines for children, including shots against rotavirus, hepatitis A, and influenza. The move did not involve the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
Officials took the step in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump that directed them to review vaccine recommendations in peer countries and, if appropriate, revise the U.S. recommendations.
Department of Health and Human Services officials said that just one of 20 countries they studied recommended hepatitis A vaccination for children. They also found that most countries did not recommend influenza vaccination for children, and a handful did not recommend the rotavirus vaccine for kids.
Officials said the health officials’ authority over vaccines is not subject to judicial review, but U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy disagreed.
“Congress has required ACIP’s involvement in the issuance of the immunization schedules. The CDC must, at least, consider ACIP’s recommendations before adopting an immunization schedule, and following or failing to follow that requirement is reviewable by this Court,” he said in a 45-page ruling on March 16.
Murphy determined that the update was arbitrary and capricious because it “abandoned the agency’s longstanding practice of getting recommendations from ACIP before changing the immunization schedules without sufficient explanation.”
The judge entered a preliminary injunction staying the update to the vaccine schedule. A preliminary injunction remains in place as a case proceeds, unless withdrawn by the judge who imposed it or overturned by a higher court.
ACIP Appointments Blocked
Murphy also sided with the American Public Health Association and other plaintiffs against Kennedy’s remaking of ACIP, which provides advice to the CDC on immunization practices.
Kennedy removed all ACIP members in 2025, citing conflicts of interest, and has, over several rounds, named new members to the panel.
Plaintiffs said the appointments violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act in part because the remade committee is unfairly balanced, as some new members do not have experience in vaccine-related fields.
Government lawyers said the new members “have a wide variety of employment histories and backgrounds, satisfying the fair balance requirement.”
