The Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (MCAAP) is a member organization of over 1,600 pediatricians who are dedicated to advocating for Massachusetts children and pediatricians. The Chapter wholeheartedly supports the July 7, 2025 lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine which holds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Secretary Robert F Kennedy, Jr, accountable for their negligent actions which endanger the public health of Americans, particularly the children and adolescents who are under our care as pediatricians.

HHS and Secretary Kennedy have undertaken steps that sow mistrust and confusion in the public by distributing contradictory statements by the FDA and CDC, making CDC officials unavailable for clarification and blocking CDC expert communications, and distributing announcements about immunization recommendations that do not conform to the previously rigorous processes that reflected current scientific understanding of infectious disease and preventive care. In cancelling vaccine working group meetings within the CDC and substituting thoroughly vetted vaccine experts with a biased group of individuals with records of benefitting from antivaccine action, Secretary Kennedy has undermined the health of Massachusetts youth along with infants and children across the nation. Specifically, the June recommendations regarding multi-dose influenza vaccines and COVID vaccine for children and pregnant individuals were based on a misinterpretation of the standing science and did not follow ACIP protocols. The Secretary’s earlier announcements regarding vaccines and autism were not based on sound science but rather misrepresent the strong record of vaccine and autism research for over thirty years.

Our Chapter is committed to the attainment of optimal physical, mental, and social health for all infants, children, adolescents, and their families, and to supporting the medical professionals who care for them. Massachusetts pediatricians have experienced moral injury and substantially increased workload in order to offer families correct health information so they can participate fully in evidence-based decision-making that ensures their children’s present and future health. In a public health environment where vaccine misinformation has created the conditions for the largest measles outbreak in the US in thirty years, pediatricians ask that the recent negligent actions of the HHS be overturned so the children we care for can be assured of protection by our own government from life-threatening infectious diseases.