California offers vaccine recommendations, defying White House
.JPG "Bryan Yeboah, 3, celebrates after receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination in his thigh from nurse Joanna Marie Pamintuan while being held by mother Perpetual Yeboah at the Kaiser Permanente Bruceville Center Vaccination Clinic in Sacramento on Thursday, June 23, 2022. Children ages six months to five years began receiving the inoculations at the clinic on Wednesday, after the recent recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control.")
California, Washington, Hawaii and Oregon are urging as many people as possible to inoculate themselves against COVID, the flu and other respiratory diseases ahead of cold-and-flu season.
Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that those states’ public health officers were forming the West Coast Health Alliance to offer their own vaccination protocols, citing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s anti-vaccine advocacy and mass firings of experts. In addition to Newsom, the group includes Govs. Tina Kotek (Oregon), Bob Ferguson (Washington) and Josh Green (Hawaii).
“Vaccination is safe, effective and the best protection available against respiratory viruses like COVID-19, influenza, and RSV,” the alliance said in a statement Wednesday. “Seasonal vaccination is also a critical public health tool to reduce serious illness, community transmission and strain on hospitals.”
Those states’ health officers are urging as many people as possible to get vaccinated against COVID, from children six months and older, to those 65 years of age and older, as well younger adults “who choose protection.”
Children under 8 months are encouraged to be vaccinated against RSV. Older children from 8 to 19 months who have risk factors are also recommended for vaccination, as well as people 75 years of age and older. All people, from young children to older adults, are recommended to inoculate themselves against influenza, according to recommendations released Wednesday.
“Our states are united in putting science, safety and transparency first — and in protecting families with clear, credible vaccine guidance,” Newsom, Kotek, Ferguson and Green said in a joint statement. “The West Coast Health Alliance stands united in protecting public health and always putting safety before politics.”
The group’s recommendations come as Kennedy has come under fire for using his position as Health and Human Services secretary to upend long-established recommendations on vaccinations. He also ousted members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replaced them with vaccine skeptics.
On Wednesday, Susan Monarez, who Kennedy fired in August from her position as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension.
She told federal lawmakers that Kennedy pushed her out weeks after her confirmation because she refused to “question scientific integrity,” and for not agreeing to preapprove new vaccine recommendations that lacked evidence.
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 11:00 AM with the headline "California offers vaccine recommendations, defying White House."
