West Coast states band together to provide vaccine recommendation after RFK Jr. replaces CDC panel Doha MadaniSeptember 4, 2025 at 3:54 AM 0 Three West Coast states are forming a public health alliance to provide "credible information" on vaccine safety in response to the turmoil within the Trump ad...
- - West Coast states band together to provide vaccine recommendation after RFK Jr. replaces CDC panel
Doha MadaniSeptember 4, 2025 at 3:54 AM
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Three West Coast states are forming a public health alliance to provide "credible information" on vaccine safety in response to the turmoil within the Trump administration.
This announcement heralds a shift from the federal vaccine recommendation system that has been in place for decades to a patchwork structure that varies from state to state.
The governors of California, Oregon, and Washington announced Wednesday that they were working to provide unified recommendations to "ensure residents remain protected by science, not politics." The action comes after months of upheaval at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including the termination of the agency's director last week.
Governors Gavin Newsom, Tina Kotek, and Bob Ferguson warned that there will be severe consequences if the CDC becomes "a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science."
"President [Donald] Trump's mass firing of CDC doctors and scientists — and his blatant politicization of the agency — is a direct assault on the health and safety of the American people," the statement said.
Critics were concerned that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, would use his role to threaten access to immunization drugs, though he promised he would not during confirmation hearings.
Over the summer, Kennedy gutted a 17-person independent vaccine advisory committee at the CDC. He replaced them with a group that included vaccine skeptics and people critical of the Covid vaccine.
A medical assistant transports the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine ready at a vaccination site in Los Angeles in 2021. (Apu Gomes / AFP via Getty Images file)
The FDA approved a new strain for the Covid vaccine in May, but Kennedy announced last month that the CDC would not recommend doctors administer the shots to the general public as they have in the past. Kennedy's new recommendation would only be for adults ages 65 and above, as well as a small group of high-risk individuals.
Although even those individuals may struggle to obtain the new vaccination, as the newly replaced panel has yet to meet and offer clarified guidance, causing delays at pharmacies nationwide.
The press release announcing the West Coast Health Alliance on Wednesday criticized the CDC's dismantling, saying that there is an absence of consistent, science-based federal leadership in public health. It said the alliance's shared principles will be finalized "in the coming weeks."
Without clarity from the federal government, individual states may begin to craft their own public health orders. New Mexico's Department of Health announced last week that it was ordering pharmacies to "remove potential barriers and ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines."
The decision came after some pharmacies said they could not administer the new versions of the Covid shots until the CDC advisory panel met and issued its official guidance.
A statement from Health and Human Services criticized Democrat-run states for pandemic policies that "eroded the American people's trust in public health agencies." It also defended the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
"ACIP remains the scientific body guiding immunization recommendations in this country, and HHS will ensure policy is based on rigorous evidence and Gold Standard Science, not the failed politics of the pandemic," the statement said.
More chaos unfolded at the CDC in recent days after the White House said it was firing director Susan Monarez after she refused to resign. Attorneys for Monarez said she "refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda."
Her dismissal sparked a mass exodus of top CDC officials. Nine former directors and acting directors published an essay in the New York Times on Monday, accusing Kennedy of endangering Americans.
"During our respective C.D.C. tenures, we did not always agree with our leaders, but they never gave us reason to doubt that they would rely on data-driven insights for our protection, or that they would support public health workers," they wrote.
They urged Congress to "exercise its oversight authority" over HHS and called on state and local governments and philanthropic givers to fill in the gaps where possible.
Kennedy defended his decisions, including gutting the CDC, in his own guest essay published in The Times on Tuesday. He accused the CDC of squandering public trust for decades.
He wrote that the organization should focus on infectious diseases, and other programs focused on chronic diseases, such as diabetes or heart conditions, should be moved away from the CDC.
"The CDC must restore public trust — and that restoration has begun," Kennedy wrote.
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