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California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week signed a law granting the state the authority to set its own vaccine guidance based on the recommendations of professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), rather than on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendations.
California’s new law locks in the federal vaccine guidelines that were in place on Jan. 1, and allows the California Department of Public Health to issue new guidance, based on the recommendations of AAP, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
Newsom signed the law on Sept. 17. The same day, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington issued joint vaccine guidance for the upcoming respiratory illness season, rather than accepting the latest CDC recommendations.
The states’ recommendations include COVID-19 and flu vaccines for children 6 months and up, and RSV vaccines for babies under 8 months and between 8-19 months who have risk factors, The Seattle Times reported.
The four state health officers set the recommendations by reviewing AAP, ACOG and AAFP’s guidelines, according to a Sept. 17 press release.
The move came one day before the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) held its two-day meeting, during which it revised recommended guidelines for hepatitis B, MMRV and COVID-19 vaccines.
The four Western U.S. states, all led by Democrat governors, banded together earlier this month to create the West Coast Health Alliance “to uphold scientific integrity in public health as Trump destroys CDC’s credibility,” according to a Sept. 3 press release.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Communications Director Andrew Nixon pushed back on the alliance’s claim. He told The Defender:
“The Democrat-run states that pushed unscientific school lockdowns, toddler mask mandates, and draconian vaccine passports during the COVID era completely eroded the American people’s trust in public health agencies.
“ACIP remains the scientific body guiding immunization recommendations in this country, and HHS will ensure policy is based on rigorous evidence and Gold Standard Science, not the failed politics of the pandemic.”
‘Parents are now being forced into a corner’
California’s new law removes references to the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and grants sole authority to the state’s health department, Informed Policy Advocates reported.
The law may also make it harder for parents to obtain a medical exemption for their child from a school-based vaccine mandate by requiring California’s health department to identify medical exemption forms that don’t meet the AAP’s criteria for appropriate medical exemptions.
California is one of the few states that doesn’t allow religious exemptions, so parents concerned about vaccinating their child are left with few options.
Tracy Slepcevic, president and founder of Autism Health and the mother of a vaccine-injured child, criticized the law in a Substack post, saying it stripped away parental rights.
“On the surface, some will say this is just ‘localizing decision-making,’” she wrote. “But let’s be honest — this is government control at its worst. Parents are now being forced into a corner: homeschool your kids or comply with state vaccine mandates.”
California law addresses insurance coverage of vaccines
The law also paves the way for state insurance companies to cover the cost of vaccines recommended by the state, even if the CDC no longer recommends them, according to a Sept. 18 letter Newsom sent to all full-service health plans.
The letter says the new law “directs health plans to cover preventive care items and services, including immunizations, if such care was recommended by existing federal bodies (e.g., the CDC) as of January 1, 2025, or is recommended by the California Department of Public Health.”
However, vaccines not on the CDC Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule aren’t covered by the CDC Vaccines for Children Program, which pays for vaccines for more than half of American children.
What about liability for vaccine makers who sell their shots in California?
Vaccines that aren’t on the CDC’s schedule aren’t protected by the liability shield that covers vaccine makers under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 — something HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pointed out last month in a post on X.
Kennedy criticized the AAP for issuing its own COVID-19 vaccine guidelines, noting that the group’s top donors include vaccine manufacturers Pfizer, Merck, Sanofi and Moderna.
“AAP should also be candid with doctors and hospitals that recommendations that diverge from the CDC’s official list are not shielded from liability under the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act,” he wrote.
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COVID-19 vaccine makers and those who administer the vaccines are shielded from liability under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act or PREP Act, rather than the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.
Even if the COVID-19 shots are no longer on the CDC’s list of universal recommended vaccines and are not licensed for all age groups by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, lawsuits alleging that the shot caused injury or death would likely still be thwarted by the PREP Act, attorney Ray Flores told The Defender.
“With states going rogue on recommended COVID-19 vaccines, this could open the door for Secretary Kennedy to immediately end PREP Act protections that are currently in place until Dec. 31, 2029,” Flores said.
In May, Kennedy announced changes to the COVID-19 vaccination recommendations for children, including shifting from universal COVID-19 vaccine recommendations to “shared clinical decision-making” between parents and providers for healthy children ages 6 months to 17 years.
Last week, ACIP voted to shift the recommendation to “individual decision-making,” but backed away from requiring a doctor’s prescription.
The new recommendation, which has yet to be adopted by the CDC, is that anyone who wants the COVID-19 vaccine first consult with a healthcare provider, such as a doctor or pharmacist, about the shot’s risks and benefits.
The California Department of Public Health did not immediately respond when asked how the state will handle potential vaccine injury lawsuits arising from vaccinations not protected by the liability shield.
Related articles in The Defender- ‘Dangerous Games’: States Defy Federal Agencies, Create Their Own COVID Vaccine Rules
- Eight Northeast States Eye End Run Around CDC Vaccine Recommendations
- Leading Pediatrician Group Defies CDC, Tells Parents to Get COVID Shots for Infants, Kids
- Pharma-Friendly Public Health Officials Launch New Project to ‘Shore Up U.S. Vaccination Policy’
- Lawsuit on Behalf of Vaccine-injured Seeks to Strike Down ‘Unconstitutional’ PREP Act
