2 hours ago
By Nate Raymond
BOSTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The Trump administration is urging a U.S. appeals court to overturn a ruling that blocked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointees from serving on a key vaccine advisory panel, saying the committee is unable to make annual recommendations on flu shots after a judge wrongly disabled it.
The U.S. Department of Justice made that argument in a brief filed late on Wednesday before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its appeal of Boston-based U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy's March 16 ruling, which also blocked the panel from reducing the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations.
The Justice Department said it was not challenging that aspect of Murphy's ruling, meaning that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's January 5 move to cut the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations will remain on hold.
Nor is the administration challenging Murphy's decision to set aside other votes the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had taken under Kennedy's watch, including to downgrade recommendations for hepatitis B vaccines for newborns and COVID-19 shots broadly.
BOSTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The Trump administration is urging a U.S. appeals court to overturn a ruling that blocked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointees from serving on a key vaccine advisory panel, saying the committee is unable to make annual recommendations on flu shots after a judge wrongly disabled it.
The U.S. Department of Justice made that argument in a brief filed late on Wednesday before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its appeal of Boston-based U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy's March 16 ruling, which also blocked the panel from reducing the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations.
The Justice Department said it was not challenging that aspect of Murphy's ruling, meaning that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's January 5 move to cut the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations will remain on hold.
Nor is the administration challenging Murphy's decision to set aside other votes the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had taken under Kennedy's watch, including to downgrade recommendations for hepatitis B vaccines for newborns and COVID-19 shots broadly.
