Federal Judge Gives AAP Six Days to Respond to CHD’s Request to Join High-Profile Vaccine Lawsuit

Both parties in the high-stakes case filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) against U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have until 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, to respond to a request by Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and others to join the lawsuit as defendants.

U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy responded in less than 48 hours to CHD’s emergency motion to intervene in AAP’s lawsuit.

The move effectively delays the judge’s pending ruling on AAP’s request for an injunction to block recent changes to the federal vaccine schedule and shut down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine advisory panel meeting, scheduled for Feb. 25-27.

Attorney Rick Jaffe told The Defender that Murphy’s response suggests the court is giving “serious consideration” to CHD’s request to intervene in AAP’s high-profile case against Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Jaffe represents CHD and four other plaintiffs in a separate lawsuit against the AAP. That suit accuses the AAP of running a decades-long racketeering scheme to defraud American families about the safety of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine schedule.