A lawyer who represents Children's Health Defense—the rabid anti-vaccine organization founded by the equally fervent anti-vaccine advocate and current US health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—has filed a lawsuit against Kennedy, alleging that he has failed to set up a task force to promote safer childhood vaccinations.
The task force's creation is outlined in the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which is mainly known for setting up the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The program provides compensation to people who have credible claims that they were injured by a vaccination, such as experiencing a very rare, severe side effect. It acts as a no-fault alternative to costly lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. Otherwise, those lawsuits could deter pharmaceutical companies from marketing and developing vaccines, which would create a grave threat to vaccination rates and public health.
Tucked into the 1986 law is also a provision that states the US health secretary "shall establish a task force on safer childhood vaccines." The task force is intended to "promote the development of childhood vaccines that result in fewer and less serious adverse reactions than those vaccines on the market on the effective date of this part and promote the refinement of such vaccines." The task force is supposed to provide progress reports to Congress, which are to be submitted every two years.
But since the 1986 law's enactment, the task force has never produced a report. There is documentation indicating that a task force was established in 1990, but it was then disbanded in 1998 without producing any reports.
Kennedy’s previous lawsuit
The fact that the task force has never been active came to light in 2018 when Kennedy filed a lawsuit and a Freedom of Information Act Request to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), seeking access to all the task force's activities and reports. The HHS responded in June 2018 that it couldn't find any.
Now that Kennedy has moved on to politics, stepping down from his role at Children's Health Defense (CHD) and joining the Trump administration, CHD has not let go of the issue.
Ray Flores, senior outside counsel to CHD, filed the lawsuit, which is being funded by CHD. In it, Flores notes that on March 15, 2025, he sent Kennedy a 60-day notice about the task force issue, and Kennedy did not respond.
Overall, the lawsuit contains anti-vaccine talking points and false claims, such as that childhood vaccines have not gone through safety testing (they have). Flores justifies the lawsuit, saying that, without the task force, he "and his family can’t make informed decisions in light of the onslaught of current and seemingly never-ending outbreaks."
In a social media post from CHD on Tuesday, Flores criticized Kennedy directly. "Why is he not dealing with vaccines? This is not the Bobby we know," he said in the posted video. "Is he being held captive in the swamp? And it kind of feels that way sometimes, doesn't it?"
It remains unclear why Kennedy has not set up the task force. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Ars Technica.
Otherwise, Kennedy has not shied from unilaterally rolling back access to vaccines and continuing to spread anti-vaccine misinformation as the country's top health official. His hand-selected vaccine advisory committee has already announced its intention to question the entire childhood vaccine schedule.
Potential explanations
However, there is one clear detail that could potentially explain Kennedy's delay. The 1986 law that sets up the task force is specific about who should be on it. The task force "shall consist of the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control [and Prevention]," the law reads. Currently, the CDC has no director.
President Trump has nominated Susan Monarez to be the CDC's director. Monarez, who has a PhD in microbiology and immunology, previously served as deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health during the Biden administration. Her nomination advanced through a Senate committee—along party lines—earlier this month but is awaiting a full Senate vote on her confirmation. Trump had previously nominated former Congress member Dave Weldon from Florida. However, his nomination was abandoned, reportedly due to concerns about his anti-vaccine views.
The lack of a CDC director could potentially be hindering Kennedy's ability to set up the task force. But health and policy experts online have expressed suspicion of Kennedy's former anti-vaccine organization filing suit against him.
The lawsuit "may give Kennedy cover for convening this task force that he may already want to convene. It may well be collusion," Dorit Reiss, a professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, told CNN. Reiss overall said the litigation "looks performative."
In our comment request to HHS, we asked if Kennedy had had any contact with Flores or CHD over the litigation or the task force. We will update this story if we receive a response.
On social media, Elizabeth Jacobs, professor emerita of epidemiology at the University of Arizona, concurred with Reiss' opinion. She added that regardless of the task force, extensive federal health infrastructure and multiple committees already oversee vaccine safety.
"[T]he entire FDA and CDC already constitute a massive task force to promote the development and use of safe vaccines, both current and future," she wrote.
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