There are many controversial figures in the Trump Administration, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is certainly near the top of the list. A member of the storied Kennedy family, RFK has long been a prominent Democrat and even ran for president in 2024 as a Democrat before crossing the aisle and famously endorsing President Donald Trump.
Kennedy was rewarded for his endorsement, with President Trump appointing him as Secretary of Health and Human Services. RFK Jr.’s appointment was a controversial one, because while he has pledged to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), he also has some controversial views on things like vaccines.
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Now, Kennedy has acted on some of those views, and he is being sued by medical professionals, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The coalition of medical professionals that is taking legal action against Kennedy is pursuing litigation in federal court because they believe that a recent directive he issued poses a danger to public health.
Here’s what the lawsuit is about, along with some details on how the medical groups are trying to stop Kennedy from, as they see it, putting people at serious risk.
Doctors say RFK Jr. is creating a serious risk of harm
The lawsuit against Kennedy stems from an announcement that the government made last month to alter the vaccine recommendations from the CDC. On May 27, Kennedy posted a video to X announcing a big change.
Appearing with U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and National Institute of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Kennedy said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would no longer recommend that either children or healthy pregnant women receive a Covid-19 vaccine.
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Both Makary and Bhattacharya were notorious during the Covid pandemic for skepticism about mask policies and their opposition to vaccine mandates, and now, along with Kennedy, they have made it official government policy not to recommend that these two groups receive vaccines protecting against the deadly virus.
The lawsuit questions the appropriateness of Kennedy’s decision and raises questions about a May 19 “Secretarial Directive,” which documented his reasons for removing the Covid vaccine recommendations from the immunization schedule published by the CDC.
According to the doctors who are suing, the directive did not include any change to existing evidence, nor any emergency powers to support the move. “The Secretarial Directive is contrary to the wealth of data and peer-reviewed studies that demonstrate the safety and efficacy of Covid vaccines for children and pregnant women,” the lawsuit reads.
Kennedy’s decision could put doctors, patients in a tough spot
Plaintiffs in the suit against Kennedy made clear that the revised recommendations could not only create safety risks for women and kids, but also make it more difficult for medical professionals to do their jobs.
The plaintiffs allege that the directive has placed medical professionals “in the untenable position of telling their patients that the country’s top-ranking government health official’s advice and recommendations are wrong and that we are right. This erodes trust, which is the foundation of a healthy physician-patient relationship and vital to the success of [American Association of Pediatrics (AAP)] members’ medical practices.”
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In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs have requested that a federal judge order that Covid-19 vaccines be put back onto the immunization schedule for children and pregnant women, and have asked the judge to prevent Health and Human Services from publishing or enforcing the May directive that Kennedy put into place.
“Pediatricians cannot stay silent as the system we rely on to support lifesaving vaccines is chiseled away piece by piece,” said AAP President Susan Kressly. “With Secretary Kennedy leading efforts to sow doubt and distrust in the American success story of vaccines, we are on a dangerous path.”
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