California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington on Wednesday issued unified recommendations on COVID-19, influenza and RSV vaccines that differ from those issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Governors of the states, which make up the newly-formed West Coast Health Alliance, said in a joint press statement that their alliance was “fighting back against the Trump administration’s assault on science.” Earlier this month, the states announced the formation of the alliance as a response to what it called the “weaponization” of the CDC, spearheaded by Health Secretary and vocal vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy’s moves included firing all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine recommendations committee and replacing them with apointees that include vaccine skeptics, and rolling back recommendations on who should receive COVID vaccines.
“Public health leaders warn these moves dismantle independent, science-based oversight and inject politics into decisions that protect Americans’ health — undermining the CDC’s credibility at a moment when trust and clarity are most needed,” the alliance said Wednesday.
The West Coast Health Alliance’s recommendations for respiratory viruses say the COVID vaccine should be given to “all who choose protection,” and specifically children 6 months to 23 months old, all adults over 65, those younger than 65 with risk factors, and anyone pregnant or planning to get pregnant.
The recommendations largely mirror what the CDC previously advised until this year, when Kennedy announced the CDC would no longer recommend the COVID vaccine for children and pregnant women.
U.S. Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon criticized the alliance’s recommendations in a statement to the Associated Press.
“Democrat-run states that pushed unscientific school lockdowns, toddler mask mandates, and draconian vaccine passports during the COVID era completely eroded the American people’s trust in public health agencies,” Nixon said. “HHS will ensure policy is based on rigorous evidence and Gold Standard Science, not the failed politics of the pandemic.”
The alliance also recommended that everyone 6 months and older get a flu vaccine, and that all babies, people 50-74 years old with risk factors, and everyone 75 and older receive the RSV vaccine.
Separately, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced he had signed a new law, AB 144, which allows the state to base future immunization guidance on independent medical organizations rather than the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The law is designed to address which vaccines health insurance companies will cover, since insurers typically cover only those vaccines recommended by ACIP.
Wednesday’s announcement by the Western states comes on the same day former CDC chief Susan Monarez told a Senate committee that she was fired by Kennedy for refusing to pre-approve childhood vaccine guidance regardless of the scientific data and refusing to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy, without cause.
Other states, including Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania have issued COVID vaccine guidelines that differ from the CDC. Meanwhile, Florida this month announced it would be the first state to phase out all childhood vaccine mandates.
