What Is HHS Doing with Our Health Care and Vaccinations? What Attorneys Should Know

In 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., enacted sweeping and often controversial changes to federal health policy. These include massive restructuring efforts, dismantling key vaccine advisory infrastructure, and shifting the landscape for public health and litigation.

Here’s what’s happening—and why it matters to attorneys.

1. Major HHS Restructuring: Efficiency or Risk to Public Health?

• Workforce Reduction & Consolidation
  In March 2025, HHS announced a plan to slash approximately 10,000 federal jobs, reducing the department from 82,000 to 62,000 staff . Agencies such as the FDA (–3,500 jobs), CDC (–2,400), NIH (–1,200), and CMS are heavily affected

• Creation of the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA)
  The restructuring consolidates 28 divisions into 15, merging functions from HRSA, NIH, SAMHSA, CDC, and other agencies into the new AHA, with five regional offices replacing ten

• Criticisms & Concerns
  Experts warn these cuts risk undermining the nation’s ability to handle disease outbreaks, conduct oversight, and maintain public trust

2. Vaccine Policy Shakeups & Advisory Committee Overhaul

• ACIP Dismissed & Rebuilt
  In June 2025, Secretary Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—a body critical for vaccine recommendations—and replaced them with largely non-experts, including vaccine skeptics

• New ACIP Agenda & Meetings
  The reconstituted ACIP is scheduled to meet September 18–19, 2025, to issue recommendations on COVID-19, RSV, MMRV, and other vaccines, with public comments accepted Sept 2–13

• Policy Reversals & Limitations
  COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children or pregnant individuals; emergency use authorizations have been rolled back in favor of limited access (e.g., high-risk adults only)

• Thimerosal Removal Policy
  In a rare bipartisan move, HHS adopted ACIP’s recommendation—now signed by Kennedy—to remove thimerosal (a mercury-based preservative) from all influenza vaccines for children, pregnant women, and adults

3. Collapse of CDC Leadership & Rising Resistance

• Firing of CDC Leadership & Departmental Chaos
  CDC Director Susan Monarez was abruptly removed after refusing to comply with vaccine policy shifts, triggering the resignation of several senior staff, including Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Debra Houry, and Daniel Jernigan

• Breakdowns in Public Health Governance
  Critics—both internal and external—highlight a growing erosion of scientific integrity, transparency, and the CDC’s ability to respond to outbreaks

4. Real-World Impact: Measles Outbreak & Fragmented Public Health Response

• Measles Resurgence in the Southwest
  The 2025 measles outbreak spread across multiple states, resulting in hospitalizations and deaths—first since 2015—highlighting vulnerabilities in vaccination rates and outbreak response.

• Federal Withdrawal & Local Strain
  Budget constraints led to the cancellation of vaccination clinics in Texas, prompting states to step in with patchwork responses—some relying on unproven treatments and facing misinformation.

Policy Shift	Potential Legal Impact
Agency Restructuring	Challenges in accessing federal data, delays in healthcare benefit enforcement, and litigation related to agency role confusion or service disruption.
Vaccine Guidance Changes	Legal uncertainty around standard of care, especially in pediatric or prenatal vaccine injury claims, and gaps in informed consent documentation.
Scientific Oversight Erosion	Challenges to the credibility of expert witnesses, disputes in discovery over reliability of federal policy, and elevated scrutiny in health-related litigation.
Public Health Fragmentation	Increase in state-specific regulations and lawsuits, regional inconsistencies in standard of care, and need for localized expert input in multi-jurisdictional cases.

At Lexcura Summit, our medical-legal consulting team helps attorneys stay ahead by:

• Monitoring agency reorganization and shifting regulatory authority

• Structuring timelines, chronologies, and expert strategies in rapidly evolving public health environments

• Clarifying standards of care where federal guidance is ambiguous or absent

To learn how Lexcura Summit can support your legal team with fast, precise, and litigation-ready medical-legal consulting, call us at (352) 703‑0703 or visit www.lexcurasummit.com to request a complimentary case review.