MASSACHUSETTS — The Trump administration filed an appeal on April 29, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts challenging a March 16 order that put on hold decisions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee. The appeal was signed by Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate.

Judge Brian Murphy issued the March 16 ruling, finding that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had unlawfully replaced the members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee. The order stayed Kennedy's appointment of 13 members of the panel, nullifying their positions and any votes they had cast. The Department of Justice could file a motion for emergency relief asking the First Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the March 16 ruling.

The litigation stems from a lawsuit brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups against the Department of Health and Human Services. The plaintiffs alleged that changes to the recommended childhood vaccine schedule and the overhaul of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices violated federal law.

In January, Kennedy and the CDC reduced the number of diseases on the recommended childhood vaccine schedule from 18 to 11. The revised schedule dropped recommendations that babies be vaccinated against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, RSV, dengue and two types of bacterial meningitis.

A meeting scheduled for March to discuss Covid shots has been postponed indefinitely. The CDC's vaccine advisory committee is scheduled to meet again in late June, and no agenda has been released for that gathering.