California, Oregon & Washington condemn dismissal of CDC vaccine panel, call on other states to join them

California – Governors Gavin Newsom (California), Tina Kotek (Oregon), and Bob Ferguson (Washington) put out a joint statement today condemning U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for dismissing all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and reiterating their states’ commitment to following the science to protect public health. Secretary Kennedy claimed that the members of ACIP – experts and physicians that develop recommendations on the use of vaccines – were fueling a “crisis of public trust.”

In reality, ACIP has served the nation for 60 years as the trusted, rigorous reference for the nation’s immunization recommendations. ACIP members — who have included current and past employees of the Public Health Departments of California, Oregon, and Washington – have extensive immunization expertise, are carefully screened for major conflicts of interest and selected through a lengthy process. The unprecedented, abrupt removal of all current ACIP members less than three weeks from their next meeting is deeply troubling for the health of the nation.