The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Massachusetts, seeks to overturn Kennedy's decision to remove healthy children and pregnant women from the list of recommended individuals to receive COVID-19 vaccines.
The organizations alleged the removal is part of Kennedy's demonstrated "pattern of hostility toward established scientific processes." They argued his moves made it difficult for some pregnant women to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their future children.
Plaintiffs include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Massachusetts Public Health Association, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
After Kennedy's announcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moved from recommending the vaccine to healthy children to encouraging parents to consult their doctors. It also no longer recommended pregnant women get the shot.
The suit asks that Kennedy's directive be declared unlawful, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for pregnant women be restored and for Kennedy to announce the reinstated guidance on the social media platform X.
"This administration is an existential threat to vaccination in America, and those in charge are only just getting started. If left unchecked, Secretary Kennedy will accomplish his goal of ridding the United States of vaccines, which would unleash a wave of preventable harm on our nation's children," said Richard Hughes IV, partner at Epstein Becker Green and lead counsel for plaintiffs.
An unnamed female physician in Massachusetts who is currently pregnant and is seeking a COVID-19 vaccine on the guidance of her doctors, referred to as "Jane Doe" in the suit, is also suing over the directive.
The coronavirus has killed more than 1 million people in the past five years, and annual shots have served as a dose of protection. Yet fewer and fewer people have been getting them, and top administration officials argue there's no benefit — and even potential harm to individuals.
The previous recommendation from the CDC was for everyone at least 6 months old, including pregnant women, to get COVID vaccines annually.
