By AMELIA TEMPLETON and MICHELLE WILEY/Oregon Public Broadcasting
The democratic governors of Oregon, Washington and California are forming a new public health partnership aimed at preserving access to vaccines.
The partnership, called the Western Health Alliance, will develop its own immunization guidelines “informed by respected national medical organizations,” according to a press release Wednesday from Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“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,” the governors said in a joint prepared statement.
Their announcement comes after a week of chaos at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last week, the White House fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, who was appointed by President Trump, after she refused to approve vaccine policies preferred by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Several of the agency’s top career scientists also resigned in protest. On Monday, nine former directors of the CDC, who worked under both Republicans and Democrats, condemned Kennedy’s leadership of the agency in an op-ed in The New York Times.
Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, responded with an op-ed of his own in the Wall Street Journal, saying he’s “restoring the public’s trust in the CDC” and vaccine science broadly by eliminating bias and conflicts of interest.
“We are here because our communities deserve clear and transparent communication about vaccines. Communication that is grounded in science, not ideology,” Dr. Sejal Hathi, head of the Oregon Health Authority, said at a press conference Wednesday. “We know that when guidance about vaccines becomes inconsistent and politicized, it undermines public trust at precisely the moment we need it most.”
Last week, the FDA approved the new round of COVID-19 vaccines, but limited their availability to only those who are considered high-risk.
On Monday, President Donald Trump suggested on his social media website Truth Social that drugmakers like Pfizer should prove to the public that COVID-19 vaccines were effective because controversy was affecting the CDC. In a press release last week, Pfizer included a link to a presentation from May on its vaccine efficacy.
The alliance’s formation is not the first time West Coast states have partnered on public health endeavors. In 2020, the three formed the “Western States Pact” to review federal vaccine recommendations and coordinate pandemic restrictions. Oregon, Washington and California were three of the final states to lift their mask mandates.
The states also have a history in responding to national health care policy changes. As legal cases that threatened abortion medication moved through the courts, the states all developed their own stockpiles of the drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol.
Tensions between the states and the Trump administration have been rising in other areas over the past month as well. The president has frequently said he wanted to see more immigration enforcement in so-called sanctuary states like Oregon and Washington after a notable presence in California. Newsom has also taken to mocking President Trump on social media in recent days.
The three Democratic governors offered few specifics Wednesday as to how they hope the Western Health Alliance could influence which vaccines will be available in their states.
The Food and Drug Administration is tasked with approving new vaccines, and state legislatures generally determine which vaccines are required for school attendance.
One possibility would be bulk vaccine purchasing agreements, with more than 50 million people living in the three states combined.
Hathi said the alliance is “exploring all possible avenues for expanding access and coverage of vaccines, including coordinated purchasing and access programs.” She also said the goal is to ensure continued access to vaccines with no out-of-pocket costs.
In response to the announcement Wednesday, some Pacific Northwest Democrats in the U.S. Senate praised the move, and said changes are needed at the federal level.
“It’s important for states like Washington to step up to protect public health, but diseases don’t recognize borders,” Washington Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement. “We still need a functioning and trustworthy federal health department — for that to happen, RFK Jr. must be fired immediately.”
- This story originally appeared Sept. 3, 2025 on Oregon Public Broadcasting.
So you have a guy who recognizes that we are just mandating all these vaccines that may or may not have efficacy, but may also be harming our kids. He simply removing status quo and getting science behind what our kids really do need. It seems the kids just keep getting sicker and sicker and sicker. I applaud his approach. Sometimes you gotta break some eggs before you can finish an omelette.
The problem with mandating and pushing vaccines as the pathway to disease protection is that people give up their right to make their own choices about their healthcare. They think a pill or a shot will do what their bodies, given natural care, can do best. There is no talk about alternate health care and alternate ways to treat and prevent illness. It’s as if we have forgotten how powerful our bodies are and look outside ourselves for the easy fix, rather than pursuing a path of healthy living. If we were a healthier population, these discussions would be moot, and healthcare and pharma would not be such a big industry.
Science does not pander to political ideologies and misinformed skeptics. Commenters imply there is some secret cabal who is deviously pushing vaccinations for some unknown net gain they hope to achieve. I suggest we all take a step back and study the historical role of vaccines and their positive effect on world populations. Healthy living is important but diseases can be devastating within and across human populations. Vaccines have been shown time and again to improve quality of life by reducing risk of disease. Ideological zealots have long used fear of the unknown, of loss of control, of autism and the like, to promote their version of a healthy society. Trust the science. You and your families will be safer and healthier in the long run.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Science does not pander to political ideologies, misinformed skeptics or ideological skeptics. Please base your decisions on well informed peer reviewed science and be able to support any claims you may make with a solid foundation based on facts.