Washington state leaders made the right decision joining Oregon, California and now Hawaii to form a West Coast Health Alliance. Under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., federal health agencies are abandoning science. States must protect residents from dangerous misinformation masquerading as policy as best they can.
The need for a West Coast alliance could not be more urgent. Kennedy has gutted the leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firing Director Susan Monarez after she refused to rubber-stamp his unscientific directives. Four other top CDC officials resigned. Kennedy also fired the entire 17-member vaccine advisory committee, replacing most with vaccine skeptics. And he cut $500 million from mRNA vaccine research.
During a heated Senate Finance Committee hearing on Sept. 4, Washington’s U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell called Kennedy what he is — “a charlatan.”
Meanwhile, Florida has announced that it will end vaccine mandates for school children, the first state to abandon a practice that has protected generations of children. Parents who do not actively seek out vaccinations for their children will be vulnerable to diseases that have not been a serious threats for generations.
Vaccines work. Less than a century ago, parents feared that their children would contract polio, a terrible disease that killed some and crippled tens of thousands of Americans. Then widespread deployment of a polio vaccine eliminated the disease in the United States. Likewise, vaccination made measles outbreaks almost unheard of, at least until the recent surge of vaccine skepticism.
The West Coast Health Alliance will counteract Kennedy’s and Florida’s efforts to make America diseased again. The coalition will provide science-based vaccine guidance from trusted medical organizations. It will be a reliable source of health information at a time when the federal government is unreliable.
Yet its potential is limited. If insurers stop covering vaccines because the federal government no longer recommends them, states might have a tough time forcing them to reverse course. Funding the gap would be a daunting fiscal challenge.
Those logistical challenges do not diminish the need for the West Coast to stand up to the Trump administration. Washington’s participation in the alliance signals the state’s commitment to protecting residents when federal leadership fails. The West Coast will be a safe haven for medical researchers, doctors and other scientists to continue their critical work and inform the public how best to stay healthy.
