California, Oregon, and Washington announced on Wednesday that they are forming a health alliance that will disseminate “credible information” regarding vaccine safety and effectiveness, at a time when the federal health agency responsible for issuing vaccine guidance has been .
In a , the Democratic governors of the three West Coast states stated the alliance’s objective was “to ensure residents remain protected by science, not politics.” The governors criticized the Trump Administration’s “dismantling” of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“President Donald Trump’s 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 governors declared. “The CDC has become a political tool that increasingly promotes ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences. California, Oregon, and Washington will not permit the people of our states to be put at risk.”
The alliance, they explained, will guarantee that public health policies in the three states are grounded in information from “trusted scientists, clinicians, and other public health leaders.” While each state may pursue independent strategies based on its specific laws, geographies, and residents, the governors noted that the joint alliance will “start coordinating health guidelines by aligning immunization recommendations informed by respected national medical organizations.”
“This will enable residents to receive consistent, science-based recommendations they can rely on—regardless of shifting federal actions,” the governors stated.
This announcement comes amidst ongoing upheaval at the CDC. Last week, the White House reported it had then-CDC Director Susan Monarez, although she refused to vacate her position. Monarez had only been in the role for approximately one month. At least four other senior officials resigned from the agency following Monarez’s dismissal. The Trump Administration Jim O’Neill, a former Silicon Valley executive with no formal medical or scientific training and the deputy to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to become the CDC’s new acting leader.
Attorneys representing Monarez that she was “targeted” after she “refused to automatically approve unscientific, reckless directives and dismiss dedicated health experts.”
Kennedy, a , has instigated a number of changes to the country’s immunization policy since his as the country’s health secretary earlier this year. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said when updated COVID-19 vaccines that the shots were only authorized for people aged 65 and older, or individuals who have an increased risk of developing severe cases of the virus—a dramatic departure from previous guidance. In May, Kennedy stated the CDC would COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women and healthy children. Esteemed medical associations, such as the and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have provided their own recommendations, diverging from federal guidance.
In June, Kennedy all 17 members of a committee that offers immunization recommendations to the CDC. The governors of California, Oregon, and Washington the action at the time.
Hundreds of public health workers have criticized Kennedy, last month that urged him to “cease disseminating inaccurate health information” and protect staffers, in the aftermath of a at the CDC headquarters a few weeks earlier. The public health workers commented that the shooting “occurred amidst growing mistrust in public institutions, fueled by politicized rhetoric that has transformed public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainization—and now, violence.”
