A California pediatrician has sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over an alleged federal policy that forces pediatricians to give COVID-19 jabs to children enrolled in Medicaid. “A California pediatrician is suing the CDC over a federal program that requires doctors in her state who treat children enrolled in Medicaid to give those children all of the vaccines recommended by the CDC. Dr. Samara Cardenas lost her medical practice after the CDC Vaccines for Children Program kicked her out of the program because she wouldn’t give COVID-19 vaccines to healthy kids,” Children’s Health Defense wrote. According to Children’s Health Defense, the lawsuit “seeks to compel the CDC to abandon its misguided and scientifically untethered policy, and stop the unnecessary mass vaccination of the nation’s poorest children.” JUST IN: CHD Funds Lawsuit Against CDC Over Program That Forces Pediatricians to Give COVID Vaccines to Kids on Medicaid A California pediatrician is suing the CDC over a federal program that requires doctors in her state who treat children enrolled in Medicaid to give those… pic.twitter.com/o8DEaYm8TW — Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) April 28, 2025 The Defender reports: California, like most states, requires pediatricians who treat Medicaid patients to be enrolled in the Vaccines for Children Program. The program, in turn, requires doctors to strictly follow the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule. In late 2023, the Vaccines for Children Program informed Cardenas that her vaccine orders “were being scrutinized” for not including COVID-19 shots. She was later expelled from the program. As a result, she lost her Medicaid contract, forcing her to close her practice. The Vaccines for Children Program primarily serves low-income populations by providing free vaccines to uninsured or underinsured children and children who are eligible for or enrolled in Medicaid. Medicaid compensates pediatricians for the costs associated with administering the vaccines. In her first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Cardenas alleges the CDC’s Vaccines for Children Program violates the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection and due process provisions by subjecting children enrolled in Medicaid to different treatment standards and compelling doctors to act against their professional judgment. The lawsuit also questions the safety and necessity of administering COVID-19 vaccines to children, the inclusion of COVID-19 shots on the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule and the impartiality of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which makes vaccine-related recommendations. In California, 3 in 7 — or about 5 million children — are enrolled in Medicaid. Nationally, about 40% of all kids — or about 29.2 million children ages 0-17 — are covered by Medicaid. BREAKING: A California pediatrician is suing the CDC over a federal program that requires doctors who treat children enrolled in Medicaid to give those children all of the vaccines recommended by the CDC. The CDC must finally answer for its corruption. — Dr. Simone Gold (@drsimonegold) April 29, 2025 According to reports, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is considering removing the COVID-19 jab from the CDC’s recommended childhood immunization schedule. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Considers Removal Of Vaccine From CDC Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule, Report Says From POLITICO: Eliminating the vaccine from the CDC schedule would not bar kids from receiving it. But the change would represent an extraordinary intervention by Kennedy to override the agency’s scientific decision-making and reverse a recommendation backed by the CDC and a slate of independent advisers just three years ago. The removal would also likely influence vaccination procedures across the nation. Pediatricians rely on the CDC schedule to determine which vaccines they should give children and when to administer them, in order to protect against a range of common infectious diseases. The schedule is also closely watched by insurers in deciding which vaccines to cover, as well as states and localities that determine which vaccines schools require for students — though no states currently mandate the Covid shot. The specifics of the removal are still under discussion and could change, said the two people, who were granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations. “No final decision has been made,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in response to questions about the vaccine’s spot on the childhood schedule. But Kennedy has advocated internally to take the Covid vaccine off the schedule, the people said, arguing that there is minimal scientific evidence for including it among the earliest vaccines given to kids.