Arizona Joins Multistate Lawsuit Challenging Federal Childhood Vaccine Recommendation Changes
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes co-leads a legal effort to block CDC vaccine guideline rollbacks that shapes U.S. immunization policy.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced last week that she is co-leading a lawsuit that aims to restore the federal childhood vaccine recommendations after they were overhauled by the federal government earlier this year.
Alongside more than a dozen other state attorney generals, Mayes is requesting the judge block the new childhood vaccine recommendations and reverse recent federal panel changes.
What Changed — and Why It's Being Challenged
In January, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reduced the total number of vaccines recommended for all children by nearly half. Vaccines no longer included in the CDC's recommendations include those for preventing the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, certain forms of meningitis, and RSV.
The lawsuit, filed jointly with California Attorney General General Rob Bonta, accuses the defendants of violating federal law and disregarding scientific evidence and expert consensus in its decision to significantly change the immunization schedule.
The suit also challenges Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to fire 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The Public Health Stakes
In her statement, Mayes highlighted that routine childhood vaccines prevented approximately 508 million illnesses, 32 million hospitalizations, and more than 1.1 million deaths among children born between 1994 and 2023.
"We want to ensure that families continue to be fully aware that vaccines continue to be safe and effective for their children, and we encourage them to vaccinate their children against diseases that are entirely preventable," Mayes said.
The Federal Government's Position
HHS publicly stated that the schedule changes were the result of a request from President Donald Trump, who asked the agency to review how peer nations approach vaccine recommendations. Officials framed the changes as a way to increase the public's trust.
Mayes disputed that framing on the basis that comparisons to other countries fail to account for key differences, including universal health care coverage.
The Physician Community's Response
The American Academy for Family Physicians, alongside several other national-level medical associations, have publicly adopted their own childhood immunization schedules. According to AAFP's website, it does not endorse the CDC's schedule. Instead, it has posted its own scheduling tables, which are available for download.
The Arizona Medical Association and other local medical groups publicly reaffirmed the importance of vaccination to the health of patients and our communities last year.
"Vaccines are one of the greatest and most reliable forms of modern medicine,” said Dr. Sarah Coles, an ArMA Board of Directors member, AzAFP member, and family medicine physician in Flagstaff. “Without them, millions of patients would unnecessarily suffer from preventable diseases and related complications each year.”
The Arizona Medical Association, the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Arizona Academy of Family Physicians urge all parents to consult with their child’s physician about vaccinations. Protecting one child’s health helps protect our entire community.
Information in this article was sourced from Arizona's Family.
