IMA: “Big Pharma-Backed Medical Groups Use the Courts to Protect Industry Profits at the Expense of American Families.”
The Independent Medical Alliance (IMA), a national coalition representing more than 12,000 independent physicians and clinicians, today released the following statement after Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Chairman Milhoan confirmed to IMA that the panel has been disbanded. Sources also indicate that the Administration plans to reconstitute a new committee, rather than pursue a lengthy appeal of U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy’s March 16 ruling that stayed the appointments of 13 ACIP members and nullified all committee votes taken since June 2025.
“This is what happens when Big Pharma’s business model is threatened. They lawyer up. A coalition of industry-funded organizations went judge-shopping and found a willing partner to shut down the first ACIP in decades that dared to ask hard questions about vaccine safety, efficacy, and the conflicts of interest that have plagued this process for years. As a physician and pathologist, I have spent my career following the evidence wherever it leads. The American people deserve a vaccine advisory committee that does the same, one free from industry capture, committed to rigorous science, and accountable to patients, not pharmaceutical balance sheets. The Administration’s decision to reconstitute ACIP is the right move. We look forward to the appointment of a new committee that restores scientific integrity and puts the health of American families first.” – Dr. Ryan Cole, Head of Medical & Scientific Affairs, Independent Medical Alliance
The judicial decision effectively canceled a critical ACIP meeting scheduled for March 18-19 that was to have included, for the first time in the committee’s 62-year history, a formal discussion of vaccine injury, a subject the previous committee never meaningfully addressed.
IMA Senior Fellow and ACIP Chairman Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist and one of the stayed ACIP members, was singled out by name in Judge Murphy’s opinion, despite his direct clinical experience treating children with cardiac complications, including those following vaccination.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and six other medical organizations, groups with deep financial ties to vaccine manufacturers, that challenged Secretary Kennedy’s efforts to bring transparency, accountability, and genuine scientific independence to a committee long captured by pharmaceutical industry interests.
Judge Murphy’s 45-page opinion blocked the January 2026 revisions to the childhood immunization schedule, which had reduced routine recommendations from 17 diseases to 11 in alignment with European standards. The ruling also voided ACIP votes to remove the hepatitis B birth dose for low-risk infants, to transition COVID-19 vaccination to shared clinical decision-making, and to eliminate thimerosal from children’s flu vaccines, all measures IMA physicians supported as evidence-based reforms.
Who is Judge Murphy?
- Overturned for “Rogue” Activism: In 2025, Judge Murphy attempted to block the Trump administration’s third-country deportation policy even after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay against his initial injunction. Even Justice Elena Kagan criticized Judge Murphy for his continued defiance of the Supreme Court stay, and the Solicitor General was forced to seek a rare clarification from the high court to stop his interference in executive branch authority.
- Political Backing from “Pharma-Funded” Senators: Murphy was recommended for his position by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey. These senators have collectively received significant contributions from the “Pharmaceuticals/Health Products” industry, including nearly a quarter of a million dollars of campaign cash over the past several years. Critics argue this creates a “circular defense” where pharma-backed politicians appoint judges who then protect pharma-backed panels like the old ACIP.
- A Career in “Pro-Crime” and Far-Left Advocacy: Before his appointment by Joe Biden in late 2024, Murphy spent his career as a public defender and criminal defense attorney, earning a reputation among members of Congress as a “far-left activist” with more sympathy for those who break the law than for the public interest.
- Obstruction of the MAHA Mandate: Beyond vaccine policy, Murphy has issued a string of rulings designed to thwart the President’s agenda, including halting immigration enforcement and blocking the removal of funding from failing federal research programs.
Who is the AAP and what motivated them to bring this lawsuit?
- Big Pharma President’s Circle: The AAP lists among its largest donors the big pharma staples Pfizer, Merck, Moderna, and Sanofi, among others. Is it any surprise they’re pushing for more vaccines and more prescription drug use?
- Defending the excessive vaccine schedule: While HHS sought to create a streamlined, evidence-based schedule of 11 essential vaccines, the AAP fought to preserve a bloated 18-disease shot regimen, including ongoing mandates for COVID-19 and Hepatitis B for newborns, ignoring cumulative safety data demanded by parents and independent scientists.
- Promoting Transgender Irreversible Medical Interventions for Minors: The AAP remains a staunch advocate for what they deem “gender-affirming care,” including the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children. This stance ignores the growing international medical consensus and the concerns of traditional families regarding the long-term biological impact on minors.
- Opposition to Choice and Religious Freedom: The AAP has doubled down on its demand to eliminate all non-medical vaccine exemptions for school attendance, effectively seeking to strip parents of their fundamental right to make healthcare decisions for their children based on their conscience or faith.
- Fighting Transparency Initiatives: Rather than welcoming a “Data Pause” to verify safety signals and health outcomes, the AAP has used its massive lobbying apparatus to sue the federal government, attempting to block the very transparency that 80% of Americans now demand from health agencies.
For more information, contact [email protected].
About Dr. Ryan Cole
Dr. Cole is a Mayo Clinic–trained, board-certified anatomic and clinical pathologist with subspecialty expertise in dermatopathology and molecular diagnostics. Over a career spanning more than two decades, he has reviewed hundreds of thousands of tissue and blood samples through Cole Diagnostics, the independent laboratory he founded in Boise, Idaho, in 2004. He is recognized for identifying emerging biological and immune-system patterns before they surface in broader population data. An IMA Senior Fellow since the program’s inception, Dr. Cole has testified before federal, state, and international legislative bodies on matters of vaccine safety, medical freedom, and pandemic policy. He was a leading voice in the effort to pass Idaho’s landmark Medical Freedom Act, which Governor Brad Little signed into law in April 2025.
