Richard H. Hughes, IV, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in RAPS Regulatory Focus, in “Experts: Look to States and the Courts for Shifts in Vaccine Policy,” by Joanne S. Eglovitch.
Following is an excerpt:
A panel of legal and public health experts stated that while the federal government can influence vaccination policies, it is ultimately the responsibility of the states and the courts to establish and uphold vaccination mandates.
The panel discussed strategies to rebuild public trust in vaccines and the limitations of federal policy on April 23 at the World Vaccine Congress.
The panel included Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association; Richard Hughes, a partner with Epstein, Becker & Green and a professor at the George Washington University Law School; and James Hodge, professor of law and the director for public health law and policy at Arizona State University.
The speakers addressed the current vaccine policy environment, the rise of vaccine misinformation, and a decrease in public trust in vaccine safety and effectiveness.
“We are in an era of eroding trust in vaccines as a protective tool in public health, and at the national level we have a vaccine skeptic as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services,” Benjamin said, referring to Robert Kennedy Jr., who has a history of promoting anti-vaccine views and was questioned about his approach to vaccines during his confirmation hearing by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. “We have a lot of vaccine misinformation that is going around … Bad information moves very quickly, and good information does not move as quickly.”
Benjamin noted the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas and several other states, which has reached 800 confirmed cases and three confirmed deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2024, there were less than 300 confirmed cases in the US and no reported deaths due to measles.
Hodge struck a more optimistic tone, stating, “There is nothing new about anti-vaccine sentiment. We have experienced various cycles of this over the last 100 years, and particularly in the past 10 years.” What is new, he said, is that there are federal officials promoting anti-vaccine policies.
Hodge added that “we have 150 years of pro-vaccine laws and policies in the United States that will surface and will continue to advance vaccines for the next 100 years to come.”
Hodge explained that while federal government officials may express anti-vaccine views, it is the states that establish vaccine mandates. Additionally, the states control the licensure of medical personnel and have authority to hire health professionals.
“If your pediatrician attempts to push the standards of care, and vaccines are part of that, this will not change,” he said.
Hodge noted that he is observing an increasing number of efforts at the federal level to exert control over vaccines at the state and local governments.
“This is where we tripped up on that federalism barrier when the [federal government] exceeded their capacity to spell out what the vaccination policies should be,” Hodge said, adding that it will now be up to the courts to decide on some of these boundaries.
Hughes agreed that attention needs to be focused on the courts, and that the upcoming case now before the Supreme Court, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, will further test vaccine mandates.
In the case, Braidwood, a Christian owned business that provides management services and self-insures its employees and several individuals, are challenging the Affordable Care Act preventative services requirement, arguing that it violates the Religious Freedom Act and that the federal government does not have the authority to require coverage of preventive services. The suit also challenged the authority of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to mandate that private insurance cover preventive services, such as vaccinations, and argued that the USPSTF members need to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Hughes said that he has a “glimmer of hope” that the court will uphold the preventive care mandate and reject the lawsuit.
Related reading:
April 24, 2025: Navlin Daily, “World Vaccine Congress 2025: Public Health Experts Express Deep Concern Over Anti-Vaccine Policies.”
