California, Oregon, and Washington created the West Coast Health Alliance to insulate vaccine guidance and public health recommendations from political influence and keep policies science-based. The pact responds to turmoil at the CDC after President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reshaped agency leadership and removed advisory committee members. The states criticized mass firings and politicization of the CDC and noted replacements who have spread vaccine misinformation. The alliance pledges unified, evidence-based recommendations, aims to protect residents' health from ideological influence, and signals coordinated state-level action as additional turnover at the CDC looms.
"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 three 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."
In June, the three states issued a joint statement condemning Kennedy's decision to remove all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Among the replacements named by Kennedy are appointees who spread vaccine misinformation and relayed conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Associated Press. Kennedy said the change would improve public trust by ensuring members of the committee didn't have "any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda."
The move comes as the nation's top public health agency is being reshaped by Kennedy and his vaccine-skeptic allies, with key leadership fired and the agency in turmoil. Kennedy has warned that more turnover could be coming at the agency.
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