West coast states band together to issue vaccine guidelines after CDC and HHS purge

California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii release recommendations in wake of firings at federal health agencies

Four western states are issuing their own joint recommendations for who should receive Covid, flu and RSV vaccines this fall, providing a counterbalance in anticipation of new vaccine guidance from the Trump administration, which has purged prominent scientists from the federal health department and appointed vaccine skeptics and critics to key roles.

The new recommendations come as a recently fired director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Susan Monarez, testified to Congress that she feared that under Robert F Kennedy Jr, the Trump-appointed head of the Department of Health and Human Services, there was a real risk that recommendations could be made restricting access to vaccines for children and others in need, without rigorous scientific review".