Fifteen Governors Create New Public Health Alliance

The governors of 15 states, whose populations account for more than one-third of the total U.S. population, have announced a bipartisan alliance around public health.

As Reuters’ Siddhi Mahatole reported on Wednesday, October 15, “A coalition of 15 U.S. state governors representing more than a third of the country's population has launched a new bipartisan alliance on Wednesday, aimed at improving public health coordination and emergency preparedness. The Governors Public Health Alliance will serve as a hub for governors and public health officials to share best practices, exchange data and collaborate on emergency response, vaccine policy and other technical issues, according to a joint statement from the coalition. The alliance of mostly Democratic states and territories comprises Colorado, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Guam,” Mahatole wrote.

And she quoted Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey as stating that, "While Donald Trump and RFK Jr. turn their backs on public health, Governors are stepping up to make sure our residents have the health care they need and deserve,” referring to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In response to the announcement, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement that "Democrat-led states that imposed unscientific school closures, toddler mask mandates, and vaccine passports during the COVID era are the ones who destroyed public trust in public health. And, Nixon asserted that the Trump Administration and Secretary Kennedy are rebuilding trust by grounding every policy in rigorous evidence and Gold Standard Science - not the failed politics of the pandemic.

The Washington Post’s David Ovalle and Lena H. Sun wrote on Wednesday that “Leaders of the Governors Public Health Alliance said it will serve as a hub for governors and public health leaders to monitor disease outbreaks, establish public health policy guidance, prepare for pandemics and buy vaccines and other supplies. The alliance, spanning states where roughly 1 in 3 Americans live, underscores the increasing fragmentation of a public health system that has been upended by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy’s challenge to long-standing vaccine recommendations has already prompted Democratic governors to form regional initiatives to provide immunization guidance,” they noted. “The latest alliance goes further in rebuking the Trump administration, encroaching on the federal government’s typical role coordinating the country’s preparation for disease threats and cooperating with global authorities.

And the Post reporters quoted Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont as stating in an interview that the alliance mirrors how his state worked with neighboring ones to coordinate public messaging during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re in another period where there’s a lot of contradictory information coming out of HHS, our departments of public health and what people are reading,” Lamont told them.

In addition, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement that, “When the federal government abandons science for conspiracy theories, slashes Medicaid, and undermines vaccine integrity, states must stand united to defend the facts.”

 Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal’s Betsy McKay, who first broke the news of the development on Wednesday morning, wrote then that “The state leaders, all Democrats, will join forces to help one another prepare for pandemics, track infectious diseases, write public-health guidelines, share expertise on preventive care and buy vaccines and supplies in bulk. And she quoted New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who stated that, “In light of the assaults on science and medicine coming out of Washington, governors have to step up and lead. We really have no choice.”

McKay noted that “The Governors Public Health Alliance is the latest and so far the largest move to create an alternative public-health universe outside the federal government. More doctors, policymakers and state leaders are alarmed by cuts in federal funding for global and domestic health programs, as well as public-health expertise at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many have grown wary of changes to federal health guidance since Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, became health and human services secretary. New limitations set by the Food and Drug Administration and a vaccine-advisory panel backed by Kennedy on who are recommended for the Covid-19 vaccine prompted some governors to issue emergency orders clarifying that pharmacists may administer the vaccine without a doctor’s prescription,” she added.

And she quoted Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who said that ““It’s really just about public health. The more expertise that is cut from federal agencies such as the CDC and the FDA, he said, the more states will need to find ways to re-create capabilities to protect the public’s health.”

The Post’s Ovalle and Sun noted that, “Under Kennedy, agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have endured cuts to personnel and funding for health programs. During the federal shutdown, the Trump administration fired hundreds of additional employees at agencies under HHS and then rescinded some of the cuts, sowing more confusion. Governors are on “the front lines of public health” because of fewer federal resources from Washington, Colorado’s Polis noted.

“At the same time, states cannot match the abilities of the CDC, which has unique data systems for infectious-disease surveillance,” Ovalle and Sun wrote, quoting Anand Parekh, chief health policy officer at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a former HHS deputy assistant secretary of health. Additionally, “there is the concern of further politicization of public health if Republican governors do not join this effort,” Parekh told them.

Despite those concerns, Tom Frieden, a former CDC director, said states have little choice, Ovalle and Sun wrote, quoting him as saying, “Really, what’s the alternative? “You’ve got a CDC that has been hijacked by people who are obscuring or denying facts, and you have life-and-death decisions that have to be made.”

Meanwhile, Stateline’s Anna Claire Vollers wrote on Wednesday that “The new alliance comes on the heels of previous regional coordination efforts such as the West Coast Health Alliance between California, Oregon and Washington. In recent months, at least 17 states have sidestepped federal guidance and promoted broader access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Those moves came in the wake of new COVID-19 vaccine guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, both under the leadership of Kennedy, a well-known vaccine skeptic,” she noted.

“As extremists try to weaponize the CDC and spread misinformation, we’re stepping up to coordinate across states, protect communities and ensure decisions are driven by data, facts, and the health of the American people,” California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

And, Vollers wrote, “Meanwhile, major professional societies such as the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have released their own guidance that diverges from federal policy on a number of issues, from vaccines to autism. The new Governors Public Health Alliance will be supported by the nonprofit Governors Action Alliance, or GovAct, an initiative overseen by a group of former governors that include both Republicans and Democrats,” she added.