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.

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On the first day of his term, President Trump passed a deluge of executive orders, including one that ordered government agencies to change the language of government materials that address "gender ideology." This is the administration's way of referring to transgender or non-binary people.

Last week, Health Secretary and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the Trump administration would hack off nearly a quarter of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees critical agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The downsizing includes pushing out about 10,000 full-time employees through early retirements, deferred resignations, and other efforts. Another 10,000 will be laid off in a brutal restructuring, bringing the total HHS workforce from 82,000 to 62,000.

"This will be a painful period," Kennedy said in a video announcement last week. Early yesterday morning, the pain began.

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