California, Oregon and Washington said they would work together to review scientific data, saying the C.D.C. could no longer be trusted. But Florida said it would abolish all vaccine mandates.
Three Democratic-controlled West Coast states announced plans on Wednesday to form a “health alliance” that would review scientific data and make vaccine recommendations for their residents, saying that the federal agency responsible for issuing such guidance for the country had become “a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science.”
The move, which comes at a time of unparalleled turmoil at the agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is an effort by California, Oregon and Washington to take scientific stewardship into their own hands after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, has taken control of the C.D.C.’s vaccine decisions. Other states, including several in the Northeast, are considering joining in a similar effort.
Hours after the Western states’ announcement, Florida announced it was going in a starkly different direction: The surgeon general said the state would end all vaccine mandates, including for children to attend schools, claiming in a news conference that each mandate “drips with disdain and slavery.” Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, a Republican, endorsed the plan, though it was not immediately clear whether it would require legislative input.
I am glad to live in a state where medical science still alive.