The Symposium opened with welcoming remarks from Twinette Johnson, J.D., Ph.D., Dean of Saint Louis University School of Law, and Michael Sinha, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor in the Center for Health Law Studies and curator of this year’s event.
The keynote address was delivered by Wendy Parmet, J.D., Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University School of Law. Reflecting back on the story of vaccine science in the United States, Parmet said: “The past has not been kind or healthy for our children.”
In exploring the roles of the state, federal and court system in vaccine policy, Parmet noted that “mandates are no longer presumptively secure under constitutional law” and warned that “we face one of the greatest crises in vaccine law, health law, and the rule of law."
The rest of the day explored what can be done to strengthen vaccine policy in both our current climate and in years to come through a set of three panels. The first, Current Issues in Vaccine Policy, examined current challenges in vaccine policy through the lenses of market dynamics and administrative governance. Ana Santos Rutschman, S.J.D., LL.M., Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Health Innovation Lab at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, focused on the “Lyme vaccine paradox,” using Lyme disease to illustrate how misaligned market incentives and litigation risk can stall vaccine development even amid growing public health need. Dorit Reiss, Ph.D., LL.B., Professor of Law and James Edgar Hervey ’50 Chair of Litigation at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, then analyzed recent actions by the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., offering an administrative law critique of decision-making processes that she argued departed from core principles of transparency, reasoned explanation, and procedural regularity.
The second panel, The Pediatric Vaccine Schedule, focused on the practical, legal, and medical considerations shaping childhood immunization policy. Yvonne (Bonnie) Maldonado, M.D., Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement and Taube Professor of Global Health and Infectious Diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine, opened by reflecting on her recent service on, and subsequent removal from, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). She was followed by Jennifer Seo, M.D., J.D., Pediatric Medicine Medical Advisor at the Illinois Department of Public Health, who walked through how immunization policy is translated into real-world systems that ensure vaccines reach children, underscoring that infectious diseases do not respect state or national borders. The panel concluded with Richard Hughes IV, J.D., M.P.H., lead counsel for American Academy of Pediatrics v. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., who outlined the federal court challenge he led that resulted in a preliminary injunction blocking unilateral changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.
The final panel, A Path Forward, turned toward solutions and future directions for vaccine policy and law. Brian Dean Abramson, J.D., LL.M., author of Vaccination and Immunization Law, began the session with discussion of the increasing politicalization of scientific standards with an emphasis on the debates over vaccine testing. René F. Najera, M.P.H., Dr.P.H., Director of Public Health and History of Vaccines at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, followed with historical and public health perspectives, arguing that moments of crisis have long been part of vaccine history and for the continued importance of reliency in key institutions, and Montrece McNeill Ransom, J.D., M.P.H., Executive Director of the Cordell Institute on Policy in Medicine and the Law at Washington University, concluded the panel with insights on trust and institutional leadership, identifying key vulnerabilities in vaccine governance and outlining strategies, grounded in law, for strengthening institutions and restoring public confidence.
The Health Law Symposium is an annual event of the Center for Health Law Studies and features leading voices engaged with some of the most pressing issues in health law and policy. Proceedings from the Symposium are published in the Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed to
another successful and meaningful symposium.
Watch the full symposium video below.
