Multiple US states sue the Trump admin for rolling back vaccine recommendations for kids
Donald Trump is usually the one who sues entities for causing him distress, but the United States President is now on the receiving end of a significant lawsuit. Several states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration recently after it did away with vaccine recommendations for children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new vaccine recommendations will make states spend more to deal with outbreaks rather than protect children against them.
A report in The Guardian states that the CDC announced last month that it did not recommend vaccinations against the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis, and RSV. Immunization against such diseases was only recommended for children with certain medical conditions that would put them at a greater risk if they contracted any of the aforementioned diseases. The states that have sued the Trump administration include California and Arizona.
The Arizona attorney general, Kris Mayes, claimed that the Republican Party was politicizing the health of children with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the top of the country’s health department. “The health and safety of children across the country is not a political issue,” she said. “It is not a culture war talking point.” The CDC, of course, has clapped back, stating that the whole fiasco was a “publicity stunt dressed up as a lawsuit."
The lawsuit also targeted RFK Jr’s changes to public health policy and his laying off of several employees in the department. The Republican had laid off thousands of workers at federal public health agencies, cut funding for scientific research, and altered government guidance on fluoride and other topics, as per the report. He also let go of every member of a vaccine advisory committee and replaced them with his own picks. The lawsuit claims that such moves were unlawful.
Democrats have been unhappy with RFK Jr and the health department for several months now. Democratic governors of California, Washington state, and Oregon launched an alliance to establish their own vaccine recommendations. They believe that the Trump administration was putting a lot of lives at risk by politicizing the CDC. Despite growing pressure and criticism, RFK Jr. recently claimed he loves his work and that he can do his best under the President.
With Trump as President, the Health Secretary believes that he has been given free rein to do some things that might not have been possible under different leadership. "President Trump's understanding of the uses of power and, you know, how strong the presidency actually is, how much leverage we have over all of these people, nations, corporations who've been taking advantage of us in the past," he said. “So it is a joy to work for him because he lets me do stuff that I don’t think anybody else would.” It is worth mentioning that measles has been on the rise in the U.S., having registered close to 1000 cases since the start of the year. The anti-vaccination agenda does not help the cause, and this is exactly what the lawsuits aim to project.
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