Attorney General Bonta Calls on Trump Administration to Stop Undermining Federal Vaccine Guidance

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced co-leading a coalition of 22 attorneys general and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in urging U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to keep federal vaccine recommendations grounded in science and medical evidence. In a letter responding to HHS's request for information on vaccine recommendations and shared clinical decision-making, the coalition warns that HHS's actions over the past year - including efforts to weaken the childhood vaccine schedule and sideline the experts responsible for developing federal vaccine recommendations - have created confusion and made it harder for states to rely on federal public health guidance. The letter urges HHS to halt additional changes that could lower vaccination rates and leave more people vulnerable to preventable disease.

"The Trump Administration cannot point to public distrust as a reason to change vaccine policy while ignoring how its own actions have fueled that distrust. It's pure hypocrisy," said Attorney General Bonta. "My fellow attorneys general and I will continue to hold HHS accountable when it attempts to undermine public health."

In the letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition urge HHS to:

• Examine its own role in undermining public trust through its recent changes to vaccine policy. HHS has not identified a change in the scientific evidence on vaccine safety or effectiveness that would justify overhauling the current recommendation categories. Instead, the coalition points out that recent federal actions have contributed to the very public distrust HHS says it wants to address.
• Preserve the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) role in setting vaccine recommendations. ACIP is a 17-member federal advisory body whose science-based recommendations form the bedrock of federal vaccine policy, as Congress intended, and serve as a cornerstone of state health codes. In June 2025, Secretary Kennedy dismissed all 17 ACIP members and quickly reconstituted it with new members who did not undergo the typical vetting process. The coalition warns that replacing ACIP with the Task Force for Safer Childhood Vaccines, which HHS reinstated in August 2025 after nearly three decades of dormancy, would undermine ACIP's critical role. The 2025 reconstitution of ACIP is also the subject of ongoing litigation.
• Retain the current vaccine recommendation categories. Under the current three-tiered recommendation structure for vaccines - routine, risk-based, and Shared Clinical Decision-Making (SCDM) - most vaccines are routinely recommended, while SCDM allows providers and patients or caregivers to weigh a vaccine's benefits and risks based on individual circumstances. These categories have historically provided clear, efficient, and evidence-based guidance for states' public health and Medicaid programs. The coalition notes that the RFI specifically asks about SCDM after HHS recently moved to expand its use, including for the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose, without identifying new scientific evidence to support the changes. SCDM is appropriate only in limited circumstances, and its misuse threatens public health.

The letter comes as Attorney General Bonta continues challenging the Trump Administration's changes to federal vaccine policy. In February 2026, he co-led a multistate lawsuit challenging the administration's overhaul of the childhood immunization schedule. This month, a federal judge ruled that the coalition has standing to challenge the CDC's changes to the childhood immunization schedule.

Joining Attorney General Bonta in the letter are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.