Democratic attorneys general from 14 states and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro filed a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision to overhaul the national childhood immunization schedule.

Attorneys general from Arizona and California led the suit. They’re joined by Democratic attorneys general from 12 other states, including Oregon, as well as by Shapiro in his capacity as governor.

It names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and their respective leaders, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CDC director Jay Bhattacharya.

Last year, Kennedy, a longtime and outspoken vaccine skeptic, removed and replaced all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Then in January, the CDC issued a new childhood immunization schedule that rescinded the universal recommendations for vaccination against hepatitis A, influenza, meningococcal disease, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and rotavirus. The move followed its dropping universal recommendations for childhood COVID-19 and hepatitis B vaccinations.

Vaccines the CDC previously recommended universally for children are now recommended for children with underlying conditions, or as options parents can discuss with doctors.

The lawsuit alleges the CDC’s vaccine panel was unlawfully replaced, and that the new recommendations were illegal, unscientific, and “posed an immediate threat to public health.”

The lawsuit filed by 14 states against the the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and their respective leaders.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the state is already seeing consequences of the federal government’s “reckless actions and vaccine narrative,” including a measles outbreak declared last week. The state has confirmed five cases of measles this year, at least four of which involved unvaccinated people.

“Preventable diseases are returning when we undermine public confidence in proven vaccines,” Rayfield said. “We must trust science, trust doctors, and protect our children.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical organizations filed a lawsuit seeking to block the new recommendations last month.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement, “This is a publicity stunt dressed up as a lawsuit. By law, the health secretary has clear authority to make determinations on the CDC immunization schedule and the composition of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The CDC immunization schedule reforms reflect common-sense public health policy shared by peer, developed countries.”

Most of 20 identified peer countries recommended fewer than the 18 childhood immunizations previously advocated for by the CDC. But the US now recommends fewer vaccines than all but Denmark, which is itself an outlier.

Oregon Capital Chronicle editor-in-chief Julia Shumway contributed reporting from Oregon.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/26/democratic-ags-sue-the-cdc-over-change-in-childhood-vaccine-recommendation/