URGENT: A Biden-appointed federal judge has ruled the Trump administration may not change the childhood vaccine schedule or appoint new members of the vaccine advisory committee

The ruling is stunning judicial overreach. It is not even clear how the plaintiffs have standing to sue (that is, how they can say these changes harmed them directly).

BREAKING: Federal judge Brian E. Murphy this afternoon issued a preliminary injunction effectively finding that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, may not lighten the childhood vaccine schedule.

Murphy, appointed by President Biden in 2024, also essentially stopped Kennedy from appointing his own preferred members to the federal vaccine advisory committee.

Make no mistake, Murphy has taken a breathtakingly aggressive stance on his powers as a federal judge. The injunction effectively takes the position that Murphy — a random federal judge — has the right to set American vaccine policy, while the executive branch does not.

The preliminary injunction blocks both the new members of the committee and the January 2026 changes to the recommended schedule, such as removing the Hepatitis B shot for newborns.

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While it is not a final judgment, the finding strongly suggests Murphy will make a similar final finding in the future in the underlying lawsuit over Kennedy’s attempts to change the vaccine schedule.

In the ruling, Murphy complained that Kennedy had made the changes to the vaccine schedule “without sufficient explanation” and acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” way.

Murphy similarly objected to Kennedy’s decision to replace the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the federal body that advises the Centers for Disease Control on vaccines.

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(Breaking news, fixed.)

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Murphy acknowledged “agencies generally have much discretion in assembling advisory committees.” But he found that several new ACIP members, including Retsef Levi, lacked the necessary “expertise” to serve. No matter than Levi, a mathematician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has extensively examined and written about the epidemiology of the mRNA vaccines.

Murphy stayed the appointments of all the new members of ACIP — not just Levi, but those he acknowledged did have the necessary expertise.

The lawsuit was brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics and a handful of other physician groups. The Trump administration has already promised to appeal.