Washington, Oregon, California to issue their own vaccine recommendations

Citing a lack of faith in the Robert F. Kennedy-run CDC, the three West Coast states will issue their own immunization recommendations.

SEATTLE — Citing a lack of faith in Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Washington, Oregon and California are forming an alliance to issue their own vaccine recommendations. 

The new group will be called the West Coast Health Alliance. The alliance will coordinate health guidelines and align its immunization recommendations with those of “respected national medical organizations,” instead of those of the CDC, according to a Wednesday press release. 

“This will allow residents to receive consistent, science-based recommendations they can rely on — regardless of shifting federal actions,” the release reads. 

The governors of the three states called the “blatant politicization of the agency a direct assault on the health and safety of the American people.” 

“The CDC has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences,” Govs. Bob Ferguson, Tina Kotek and Gavin Newsom said in a joint statement, “ideology that will lead to severe health consequences. California, Oregon and Washington will not allow the people of our states to be put at risk.”  

Kennedy is an outspoken vaccine skeptic. This summer, he ousted every member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replaced them with his own appointees. 

The newly appointed committee just walked back who should get the COVID-19 vaccine, now limiting the recommendation to seniors who are most at risk for serious complications from the illness. 

The move mimics actions taken by the three states during the pandemic, when California, Oregon and Washington worked together to coordinate their vaccine approvals and rollouts.