New Mexico joins lawsuit challenging Trump administration's new vaccine requirements

New Mexico joined a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration over its sweeping changes to childhood vaccine requirements.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in federal court, names U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jayanta Bhattacharya. 

On Jan. 5, the CDC issued a memo removing seven childhood vaccines from its list of universally recommended immunizations, a decision the complaint alleges “will make children sicker and strain state resources.”

Under the new guidelines, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines, previously recommended for all, will now be administered based on “shared clinical decision-making” with a doctor.

Last June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, the body that decides vaccine requirements for the CDC, and replaced them with his own appointees, a move the suit contends is unlawful.

“For decades, our nation’s vaccine policies have been guided by rigorous science and medical expertise, helping eliminate diseases that once devastated families,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement. “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.” 

New Mexico joins 14 states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — in asking the CDC to throw out both its new vaccine guidelines and ACIP appointments. 

Lower vaccination rates will lead to higher rates of infectious disease, New Mexico Department of Justice officials said in a news release Wednesday. 

“For New Mexico and other states, this means a greater strain on state Medicaid programs and public health systems, more time and money spent combatting outbreaks and misinformation, and wasted resources decoupling state laws, regulations, and public guidance from ACIP’s and CDC’s now-untrustworthy recommendations,” state officials said.

Kennedy said in a January statement the CDC made its decision in an effort to align the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with “international consensus.”

The news release cited childhood vaccine recommendations in Denmark, where children are immunized against 10 diseases compared to 18 in the United States in 2024. 

The 15 plaintiffs allege that Kennedy’s comparison to Denmark and other countries was "superficial," since it did not take into account “fundamental differences between those nations and the United States,” as well as the “overwhelming evidence” in favor of the efficacy of vaccines. 

Denmark, unlike the U.S., has universal health care, state officials said.

“More than 100 million Americans lack usual access to primary care, making the instruction to ‘discuss vaccines with your clinician’ essentially meaningless,” NMDOJ officials said.

Routine childhood vaccinations prevented approximately 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations and more than 1.1 million deaths in children born in the U.S. between 1994 and 2023, according to the 2024 CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach her at nrobbins@abqjournal.com.