Attorney General Clark Joins Lawsuit Challenging the Unlawful Overhaul of Federal Childhood Immunization Policy

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark joined a multi-state coalition lawsuit against HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., challenging HHS's rollback of the federal childhood vaccination schedule. The lawsuit was originally filed in February 2026 and amended and refiled on October 2, 2026. The coalition includes the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Vermont, and the Governor of Pennsylvania. The lawsuit challenges a CDC Decision Memo dated January 5, 2026, that stripped seven childhood vaccines of their universally recommended status. The affected vaccines protect against rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, COVID-19, and RSV. The coalition alleges the updated recommendations contradict decades of scientific evidence and were issued without the expert and public input required by law. The complaint also challenges Secretary Kennedy's firing of all seventeen voting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in June 2025 and his replacement of those members with individuals the coalition alleges lack the scientific qualifications required by ACIP's charter and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). In December 2025, the reconstituted ACIP reversed nearly thirty years of CDC policy by eliminating the recommendation for a universal hepatitis B birth dose, a vaccine described as up to 90 percent effective in preventing perinatal infection when administered within 24 hours of birth. The coalition's legal theory is that the Secretary's actions are arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. The relief sought includes a court declaration that the new vaccine schedule is unlawful, invalidation of Secretary Kennedy's ACIP appointments, and reversal of the committee's hepatitis B decision.