Appeals court hears challenge to block on Kennedy's CDC vaccine advisory panel appointees

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard the government's appeal on 6 October 2026. Justice Department attorney Matthew Zorn told the panel that the district court had no authority to suspend Kennedy's appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

What the appeals panel heard

He said the practical effect is a committee blocked from meeting in any capacity.

"The secretary wants to get the ACIP back to work, and we are being told if he reconstitutes any committee, it's going to be right back in court," Zorn said.

Judge Brian Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled in March that Kennedy likely violated federal procedures. Murphy said Kennedy picked "distinctly unqualified" people instead of vaccine experts. The Hill reported that some judges on the appeals panel appeared puzzled, questioning why Murphy gave no legal explanation for blocking the appointees. The plaintiffs, led by the American Academy of Pediatrics, argued that the ruling does not bar a new committee and that Kennedy would have to follow the law's requirements on fair balance and expertise.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices does not mandate anything. Its votes decide which vaccines most private insurers must cover, and many state vaccination policies are tied to its guidelines, NPR reported. Insurers cover the shots the panel green lights, and its uncertain status makes it impossible to say what private insurers will do, Deseret News reported.

What the committee did before it was stopped

Over three meetings in 2025, before Murphy's March ruling, Kennedy's ACIP rescinded several recommendations for childhood shots, including immunization of all newborns against hepatitis B. Kennedy had fired all 17 members and installed eight new ones, adding several others later, Deseret News reported. NPR reported that the birth dose has been recommended since 1991; given within 24 hours, it is up to 90% effective at preventing infection from the mother, and three doses leave 98% of children immune for at least 30 years.

On Tucker Carlson's podcast in June, Kennedy falsely claimed the hepatitis B birth dose is a "likely culprit" of autism and said the virus is not "casually contagious," NPR reported. He also bypassed ACIP with a childhood schedule that cut the number of diseases children are routinely immunized against to 11 from 17. The administration did not appeal the pause on that schedule change, only the block on the committee.

Brian McMahon, a liver specialist at a tribal-owned hospital in Anchorage, told NPR that in western Alaska "liver cancer has disappeared in children." He said no case has been seen there since 1995.

What the ruling left in place

Murphy's 16 March ruling stayed 13 of Kennedy's appointees and voided their earlier votes, Deseret News reported. It also overturned a May 2025 directive that narrowed COVID-19 recommendations, the American Public Health Association said. Two changes from Kennedy's tenure remain in effect, according to Washington Post reporting cited by Deseret News: there is no recommendation for pregnant women, and the vaccine is recommended for healthy children through shared decision-making, meaning parents and children should talk with health providers.

Murphy's block on the appointments holds while the lawsuit plays out. The committee has not met this year, and the CDC's meetings page lists its 21-23 October session as canceled "due to ongoing litigation."