Complaint targets a CDC decision memo that removed universal recommendations for seven vaccines and challenges the overhaul of the federal immunization advisory panel.

Organ Mountain News report

ALBUQUERQUE - New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has joined a multistate lawsuit challenging what his office described as a federal overhaul of childhood immunization policy, including changes to the nation’s recommended vaccine schedule.

The complaint names Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jay Bhattacharya, along with HHS and the CDC, according to the release.

Torrez and the coalition are challenging a CDC “Decision Memo” dated Jan. 5, 2026, that removed universal recommendations for seven vaccines: rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, the release said.

The lawsuit also challenges the replacement of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP, an expert panel that has guided U.S. vaccine policy for decades, the release said.

“For decades, our nation’s vaccine policies have been guided by rigorous science and medical expertise, helping eliminate diseases that once devastated families,” Torrez said in the release. “By bypassing federal law and undermining established vaccine recommendations, this administration is putting children at unnecessary risk. Public health decisions must be driven by evidence — not ideology.”

The coalition is asking the court to declare the revised schedule and the ACIP appointments unlawful and to enjoin, vacate and set aside the changes, the release said.

Torrez’s office cited a 2024 CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that estimated routine childhood vaccinations prevented about 508 million illnesses, 32 million hospitalizations and more than 1.1 million deaths among children born in the United States from 1994 to 2023, generating $2.7 trillion in societal savings.

The release said Secretary Kennedy fired 17 ACIP voting members in June 2025 and replaced them with new members. Torrez’s office alleged the replacements do not meet qualifications required by ACIP’s charter and federal law.

The release also said ACIP eliminated a universal hepatitis B birth dose recommendation in December 2025, describing the vaccine as up to 90% effective at preventing perinatal infection when given within 24 hours of birth.

Torrez’s office alleged the Jan. 5 decision memo did not rely on new scientific evidence, a recommendation by a lawfully constituted ACIP or a systematic review of available data. The release said the memo relied on comparisons to other countries, including Denmark, without accounting for differences such as access to primary care.

Torrez’s office said lower vaccination rates would increase infectious disease, strain Medicaid and public health systems and increase the cost of outbreak response.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and California Attorney General Rob Bonta are co-leading the lawsuit, according to the release. Torrez joined the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, along with the governor of Pennsylvania.