Changes at the Department of Health and Human Services have shaken up the way states will advise the public about vaccine mandates, prompting Republican-led Florida to end mandates entirely and Western Democratic states to form an alliance focused on “science, not politics.”
Red states vs. blue states
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday that the state would be ending all vaccine mandates, including for children. Ladapo said every vaccine is “wrong” and “drips with disdain and slavery.” The state’s Department of Health would be working with the governor to end the mandates, which he called “wrong” and “immoral.”
“Who am I to tell you what your child should put in (their) body?” Ladapo asked. “I don’t have that right.”
While Florida is not banning vaccinations, it will work to end the current requirements for vaccines, including for children attending public schools.
DeSantis celebrated the move in a post online, claiming that his state has become “the leading state in the nation for medical freedom.”
“Our health policies are guided by evidence, common sense, and respect for individual rights — not ideological agendas or special interests,” he wrote on X.
DeSantis said Florida would be creating a “Make America Healthy Again” Commission, which is part of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda leading the country’s health department.
All 50 states have some vaccination requirements for kids to attend public school, with medical and some religious exemptions. Vaccines have become more politicized in parts of the country following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move comes as Kennedy makes changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while some officials sound the alarm on the agency’s independence and scientific role in the country.
California, Oregon and Washington create health alliance
The three Democratic governors from California, Oregon and Washington created the West Coast Health Alliance, they announced Wednesday. The governors argue that federal actions have undermined the CDC’s independence and have politicized science.
The alliance will work to provide recommendations to residents in all three states about immunizations and step in to ensure there is accessible, credible information about vaccines in place of the CDC’s previous recommendations.
“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 CDC has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences,” the governors said in a statement. “California, Oregon, and Washington will not allow the people of our states to be put at risk.”
Kennedy and the CDC
The changes at the state level come after Kennedy, who has spoken out against vaccines, ousted experts at the CDC and replaced them with people who align more with his views, The New York Times reported.
Kennedy published an op-ed Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal touting the CDC’s success with the measles outbreak in Texas, which local officials officially declared over last month. His op-ed, titled, “We’re Restoring Public Trust in the CDC,” said the agency became politicized and “corroded” over the last several decades.
But now, he said the organization is doing better because it helped end the Texas measles situation and will continue to rebuild trust with the American people.
“We have already taken steps to eliminate conflicts of interest and bureaucratic complacency,” Kennedy wrote.
Kennedy, however, has been criticized for his vaccine advisory panel. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed of her own, former CDC director Susan Monarez said Thursday she was pressured to compromise on scientific inquiry. Monarez said she was pressured by Kennedy to resign after just 29 days on the job, before Kennedy fired her over a dispute about vaccines.
Monarez said there were “troubling directives” given to her by Kennedy over vaccines, including assembling an advisory panel with people who have openly expressed being against vaccinations.
More than 1,000 current and former HHS employees from the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health signed a letter calling for Kennedy to resign, arguing he is compromising the health of the country. The employees noted Monarez’s ousting and other top CDC resignations.
Bipartisan criticism in the Senate
Kennedy, facing growing scrutiny, was called Thursday to testify before the Senate Finance Committee. Democratic senators called on Kennedy to resign as well and grilled him over vaccine skepticism and changes to the department.
In his opening remarks before the committee, Kennedy highlighted Trump administration efforts to expand rural health care access and the CDC’s “failed” responsibility during the pandemic.
“We need bold, competent, creative, new leadership at CDC,” he said, adding, “We need new blood at CDC. That’s also why it’s imperative that we remove officials with conflicts of interest and catastrophically bad judgment and political agendas.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., questioned Kennedy over vaccines for children, Monarez’s firing and the makeup of the advisory committee, and said he doesn’t believe Kennedy should be a “million miles” away from the leadership position.
“The committee’s got a profound impact on vaccine access, but these aren’t ordinary meetings. You stacked the deck to ensure the panel … bends to your views,” Wyden said. “In June, you fired all 17 committee members who were respected scientists and doctors. You replaced them with non-experts, vaccine skeptics and conspiracy theorists.”
“As a result, this critical advisory panel has lost scientific credibility,” he continued.
Kennedy replied that his critics are conflicted and he has support from scientists and doctors across the country.
Wyden, along with 11 other senators on the committee, called for Kennedy to resign from leading HHS.
The criticism, however, wasn’t limited to only Democratic senators.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-Fla., grilled Kennedy over contradictory statements and Monarez’s firing, asking for answers to recent reports about HHS conduct.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Ill., a trained physician, questioned Kennedy about praising President Donald Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed,” which accelerated development of the COVID-19 vaccine, while attempting to restrict access to the vaccination.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., also a trained physician, said he has grown “deeply concerned” since Kennedy’s confirmation hearing.
“Americans don’t know who to rely on,” he said, later adding, “If we’re going to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ we can’t allow public health to be undermined.”