CA teams up with Oregon, Washington to offer COVID vaccine recommendations
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- California, Oregon and Washington launched a West Coast Alliance for vaccine guidance.
- Governors cited CDC staff firings and politicized leadership under Kennedy as threats.
- The alliance aims to provide evidence-based immunization advice amid federal uncertainty.
California, Washington, and Oregon are partnering to roll out their own COVID vaccine recommendations, citing U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s undermining of scientific integrity and mass firings at the Centers for Disease Control.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson would form the West Coast Alliance to coordinate public health strategies and provide information to residents about when they should receive immunizations against COVID and other infections and their efficacy.
The alliance follows a similar pandemic playbook in 2020, when California allied with other states like Nevada and Colorado via the Western States Pact to coordinate a state-level economic response to COVID restrictions.
“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 three governors said in a joint statement Wednesday. “The CDC has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, 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.”
Since joining the Trump administration in February, Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has rescinded $500 million earmarked for COVID vaccine research and fired all the members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, replacing them with vaccine skeptics.
Since then, the CDC and Food and Drug Administration, which is also under Kennedy’s oversight, have curtailed who can receive a COVID vaccine to those 65 and older and people with underlying conditions, conflicting with advice from experts like the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Kotek, Newsom and Ferguson said the firings and “sidelining of long-trusted advisory bodies” cast doubt on the CDC’s ability to prepare people for flu season and other public health concerns.
“In a vacuum of clear, evidence-based vaccine guidance, manufacturers lack reliable information to plan production, healthcare providers struggle to provide consistent plans of care, and families face uncertainty about access and coverage,” their statement read.
“We will continue to provide clear, evidence-based guidance to people living in our states, look to scientific experts in trusted medical professional organizations for recommendations, and work with public health leaders across the country to ensure all Americans are protected. The absence of consistent, science-based federal leadership poses a direct threat to our nation’s health security.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2025 at 9:06 AM with the headline "CA teams up with Oregon, Washington to offer COVID vaccine recommendations."
