The courts have been busy on Monday — and while the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals was granting the Trump administration a procedural win, placing on hold Massachusetts District Court Judge Brian Murphy's ruling in a case involving deportations to third countries, Judge Murphy was himself issuing another unfavorable decision. This one halted significant changes to the federal childhood vaccine schedule and effectively shut down the newly reconstituted Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) created by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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Murphy ruled that plaintiffs — including the American Academy of Pediatrics and several medical organizations — are likely to succeed in their claim that the administration violated federal law when it bypassed ACIP while revising federal vaccine guidance.
The court partially granted plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction, staying the administration’s January 2026 overhaul of the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule and suspending the appointments of 13 members of the newly reconstituted ACIP.
Murphy's ruling means the revised vaccine schedule cannot take effect while the case proceeds, and the current version of the advisory committee cannot operate.
In his decision, Murphy concluded that the CDC likely acted unlawfully when it issued the January schedule revisions without involving the advisory committee, noting that, "As the CDC itself explains, the 'CDC sets the U.S. adult and childhood immunization schedules based on recommendations from ACIP,'” and further noting that federal statutes repeatedly tie public health programs to those recommendations.
Because the CDC issued the new schedule without consulting ACIP, the judge held that the agency likely acted “contrary to law” and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
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Murphy also concluded that plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their claim that the reconstituted ACIP violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which requires federal advisory bodies to be “fairly balanced” in expertise and viewpoints.
In Murphy's judgment, many of the new appointees lack relevant experience in vaccine research or immunization policy — the very subjects the committee is tasked with evaluating. “A committee of non-experts cannot be said to embody fairly balanced points of view within the relevant scientific community."
Expect this one to be appealed to the 1st Circuit.
“HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing,” department spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in an email.
Whether the administration will meet with the same success before the appellate court on this one remains to be seen. They'll likely contend that the applicable statute does not specify that ACIP recommendations are mandatory — they're advisory — and that Murphy's ruling here essentially reads a constraint into the statute that isn't there. Will the 1st Circuit see it that way? We'll keep you posted.
Editor's Note: Radical leftist judges are doing everything they can to hamstring President Trump's agenda to make America great again.
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