Vaccine panel uncertain

U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy issued a preliminary injunction on March 16, 2026, staying Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointments to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and halting votes the panel has taken. (politico.com) Murphy’s opinion specifically stayed implementation of the Jan. 5, 2026 memo that altered the childhood immunization schedule and paused earlier directives dating back to May 2025, while noting the court could proceed with the larger case. (apha.org) The injunction also stayed votes taken by the reconstituted ACIP, and the agency postponed the committee’s March 18–19, 2026 meeting that had been planned to address vaccine guidance. (apha.org) On March 19, 2026, ACIP vice chair Robert Malone posted on X that “ACIP has been disbanded,” then issued a follow-up post about five hours later calling the initial statement a “miscommunication” and saying dissolving and reforming the committee was one option under consideration. (fiercepharma.com) HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told news outlets that “unless officially announced by us, any assertions about what we are doing next is baseless speculation,” denying that a formal disbandment had been declared. (biotech-today.com) ACIP chair Kirk Milhoan and other members were reported as having been told by an HHS official that the committee had been disbanded, a claim covered in interviews and contemporaneous reporting relayed by outlets including CNN and WHDH. (whdh.com) The plaintiffs who won the preliminary injunction include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association, American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, among others, per the court filings and public-health group statements. (apha.org)