SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington announced it is joining California and Oregon in a new West Coast health care alliance, stepping away from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance for its residents.
The tri-state partnership comes in response to recent mass layoffs at the federal health agency. Governor Bob Ferguson, along with the governors of Oregon and California, has criticized the CDC, accusing it of prioritizing ideology over science.
“We are concerned about what’s happening at the CDC,” said Dennis Worsham, Washington’s Secretary of Health. “We want to make sure that we’re aligning our recommendations and our practices really based in science.”
The new West Coast alliance is likely to issue health care and vaccination guidance that differs from the CDC’s recommendations.
“We are really trying to sift through the noise and get to the recommendations based on science. I think people will appreciate that on both sides,” Worsham said.
Worsham expressed concerns about potential retaliation from the White House regarding the state pulling away from the CDC.
“We’ll see what happens in this particular area,” Worsham said.
So far, there has been no response from the White House.
While Worsham hopes people will trust this newly formed alliance, he worries that multiple voices with different opinions could cause confusion.
“My hope is that we will have a place that people can go, that they will feel comfortable and trust,” Worsham said.
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