SACRAMENTO, California: More than a dozen states sued the Trump administration Tuesday (Feb 24) over its rollback of vaccine recommendations for children, calling the move an illegal threat to public health.
The states argue that the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention put children’s lives at risk when it announced last month that it would stop recommending all children get immunised against the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. Under the new guidance, which was met with criticism from medical experts, protections against those diseases are recommended only for certain groups deemed high risk or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.”
The new vaccine recommendations ignore long-standing medical guidance and will make states have to spend more to protect against outbreaks, the states, including Arizona and California, said.
“The health and safety of children across the country is not a political issue,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, at a news conference. “It is not a culture war talking point.”
The CDC and Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit escalates an ongoing battle between Democratic-led states and Republican President Donald Trump’s administration over the federal government’s changes to public health policy under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Trump administration has laid off thousands of workers at federal public health agencies, cut funding for scientific research and altered government guidance on fluoride and other topics.