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Three Democratic governors on the West Coast are banding together to sidestep President Donald Trump’s health agenda – a move the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) blasted as rooted in the “failed politics of the pandemic.”
The governors have decided to reject Trump’s CDC rules and create their own vaccine guidelines, potentially putting state policies at odds with federal guidance.
“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,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
Nixon added the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) “remains the scientific body guiding immunization recommendations in this country,” and that the health department “will ensure policy is based on rigorous evidence and Gold Standard Science.”
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All 17 members of the ACIP were dismissed in June as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. vowed to “restore public trust” in vaccine guidance.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, and Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson launched the West Coast Health Alliance Wednesday, just a day before Kennedy testified on vaccines before the Senate Finance Committee. The hearing comes just a month after CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired.
“President 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 governors said in a joint statement. “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.”
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The governors plan to disregard CDC guidelines under Trump and will issue their own coordinated vaccine and health guidelines in their states, grounded in medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. If finalized, the alliance could create dueling health systems, where millions of residents in California, Oregon, and Washington follow state vaccine recommendations that may conflict with federal guidance.
“Through this partnership, the three states will start coordinating health guidelines by aligning immunization recommendations informed by respected national medical organizations,” a news release on Newsom’s website said.
Tribal nations will continue to exercise full sovereignty over vaccine programs, according to the news release, noting the alliance will not interfere with federally recognized tribes’ authority to set their own health policies.
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The CDC has been in turmoil for months after the Trump administration moved to clean house at the agency, firing hundreds of staffers and dismantling divisions long accused of political bias. In late August, CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted less than a month into the job after resisting new vaccine directives, triggering a wave of resignations by senior officials.
According to the Washington Post, anonymous CDC officials said HHS leaders, including Kennedy Jr., pressed Monarez to withdraw approvals for certain COVID-19 vaccines. When she refused to go along, administration officials told her she had to resign or face termination. Monarez has since retained attorneys Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, who previously said she “has neither resigned nor yet been fired.”
The blue states say the new policies will be finalized in the coming weeks.
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