The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not adequately tested its childhood vaccination schedule, according to a new lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the suit, including multiple doctors who have had their licenses suspended, are asking a federal court to order the agency to immediately change recommendations for vaccines “until such time as CDC demonstrates through scientifically rigorous studies that the cumulative schedule is safe.”
A CDC spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the agency does not comment on litigation.
The CDC says on its website that the immunization schedule “is safe and effective at protecting your baby.”
The agency adds: “It’s based on how your child’s immune system responds to vaccines at various ages, and how likely your baby is to be exposed to a particular disease. This ensures your little one is protected from 14 potentially serious diseases at exactly the right time.”
The recommendations are technically not requirements, but all 50 states and the District of Columbia require many of the recommended vaccines for school attendance, and virtually all cite the schedule.
The new suit was filed on Aug. 15 in federal court in Washington.
The plaintiffs say the CDC “has never studied the combined effects and the accumulating dangers of administering all of the vaccines on the CDC’s recommended childhood vaccination schedule.”
Most of the vaccines on the schedule fall under category A, or universal recommendations, with exceptions only for children with a condition the CDC says puts them at risk of a side effect if they take a shot.
The small list of exceptions “excludes many documented risk factors and prevents physicians from exercising individualized medical judgment,” the new suit alleges.
Dr. Paul Thomas, an Oregon doctor and one of the plaintiffs, had his medical license suspended after publishing a study that found vaccinated children in his practice had higher rates of many chronic illnesses. The study has since been retracted.
Another plaintiff, Dr. Kenneth Stoller, now a Montana resident, saw California revoke his license after he used genetic markers to identify children at risk of side effects if vaccinated and issued medical exemptions based on those findings, according to the suit.
An Indiana-based nonprofit called Stand for Health Freedom is the third plaintiff.
The CDC should be ordered to place all vaccines under category B, or shared clinical decision-making, the plaintiffs said. Under that category, vaccines are not recommended, and decisions about vaccinations are made between the patients and their doctors, while taking into account an individual’s health.
“We’re not asking to ban vaccines. We’re asking the courts to force the CDC to change the childhood vaccine schedule from Category A recommendations to Category B—shared decision-making between families and physicians—until the CDC does the testing its advisors have recommended for decades,” Richard Jaffe, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, wrote in a blog post.
New advisers to the CDC in June said they would be examining the cumulative effects of the childhood schedule, noting that the number of vaccines recommended in the United States has risen over time and is higher than in other countries. Martin Kulldorff, the chair of the panel, did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The new suit is the latest to challenge the CDC and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, which is headed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
A California doctor, represented by Joffe, sued the CDC earlier this year over its COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children. The lawyer voluntarily dismissed the case after the CDC in May, under a directive from Kennedy, stopped recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy kids.
In another case filed by an attorney, health officials were accused of defying federal law by not providing a biennial report on how it is improving the safety of childhood vaccines. In response, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Aug. 14 that it was reforming a task force to present recommendations on making childhood vaccines safer and would provide updates every two years.