Fifteen Democratic states announced Tuesday that they are launching lawsuits against the Trump administration to challenge its reduction in the number of vaccines recommended for children, which they criticize as going against science.
With this reform decided by the vaccine-skeptic minister Robert Kennedy Jr., seven vaccines previously recommended for all American children are now only recommended for those particularly at risk.
This concerns vaccines against influenza, hepatitis A and B, Covid-19, meningococcus (which causes meningitis), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), as well as against rotavirus, which causes gastroenteritis.
About ten others remain recommended for all American children.
The minister and his administration "are flouting decades of scientific research, ignoring credible medical experts and risk putting a strain on state resources and making American children sicker," California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading this procedure with his Arizona counterpart Kris Mayes, denounced at a press conference.
When announcing the bulk of this reform in January, the Trump administration justified its action by saying it was aligning itself with the vaccination policy of other countries, notably citing Denmark as an example.
But this change to the American schedule for childhood vaccines had raised concerns among a large part of the medical community, because Denmark is a small country, with a centralized public health system, which guarantees universal access to care and observes a low prevalence of diseases.
These are conditions that do not exist in the United States, where the largely privatized healthcare system is less efficient than in Northern Europe.
"Copying Denmark's vaccination schedule without copying the Danish healthcare system does not give families more options - it simply leaves children unprotected against serious illnesses," Kris Mayes reminded reporters at Tuesday's press conference.
In the United States, vaccine skepticism, which has been growing since Donald Trump's return to power last year, is causing concern. The country's vaccination rates have been declining since the Covid-19 pandemic, raising fears of a resurgence of deadly infectious diseases, such as measles.
The issue has become highly political, and California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement supporting the legal proceedings initiated on Tuesday.
“The Trump administration’s attacks on science are irresponsible and dangerous,” the 58-year-old Democrat, who harbors presidential ambitions, asserted. “Undermining confidence in vaccines will lead to lower vaccination rates and more infectious diseases.”
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