California medical experts voice support for West Coast Health Alliance

(FOX40.COM) — Medical experts in California are voicing support for the new West Coast Health Alliance on Friday.

Hawaii has become the latest state to join California, Oregon, and Washington in the four-state coalition focused on strengthening public health.

State leaders said the alliance will share immunization recommendations based on scientific research and establish a united approach to safeguarding residents’ health.

In a joint statement, the governors of California, Oregon, and Washington said:

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, an ideology that will lead to severe health consequences. California, Oregon and Washington will not allow the people of our states to be put at risk,” the statement read.

The move marks the latest Democrat-led challenge to recent federal policy shifts, including the CDC scaling back vaccine recommendations and Florida’s plan to phase out childhood vaccine mandates.

Dr. Adam Dougherty, an emergency physician and representative of the California Medical Association, called the alliance a welcome response.

“We have four state bodies of public health and of science that can be relied upon as a trusted, continuous voice that is not at the whims of an election cycle,” Dougherty said.

The alliance also formed amid a rise in COVID-19 cases and other vaccine-preventable diseases across the U.S., including measles.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden’s representatives confirmed to FOX40 that he fully supports the initiative, noting he challenged Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine policies during a recent hearing.

“Robert Kennedy’s primary interest is to take vaccines away from Americans,” Wyden said. “Robert Kennedy fired every single member of the group responsible for making vaccine recommendations to doctors across the country.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that trust in public health officials has already eroded because of the Democrat-led response to the pandemic.