California says it can no longer trust Washington on COVID vaccines. A major battle is looming

"The shift comes as California state officials and mainstream medical organizations are breaking from the Trump administration's recent revisions to federal vaccine guidelines. The changes, made under the leadership of vaccine-skeptic Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have been so dramatic that a number of medical experts and officials now express little to no confidence in two key agencies within that department - the CDC and Food and Drug Administration."

"A key turning point came in June, when Kennedy ousted everyone on the CDC's respected Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which issues recommendations on who should receive various types of vaccines. Their replacements - some of whom have criticized vaccines and spread misinformation, according to the Associated Press - have led officials and other experts in some states to doubt or dismiss the latest CDC guidance."

"In the past, medical and scientific groups were confident in the CDC's data analysis and trusted the agency's vaccine guidelines. And so that guidance informed key matters including which vaccines should be covered by insurance, and professional medical societies were aligned on immunization recommendations, according to Dr. Erica Pan, the director of the California Department of Public Health and state healt"

California is experiencing a late-summer COVID surge with very high wastewater virus levels even as some other indicators begin to decline. State officials and mainstream medical organizations are breaking from recent federal vaccine guideline revisions after HHS leadership replaced the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The replacements include individuals who have criticized vaccines and spread misinformation, undermining confidence in the CDC and FDA. Officials and experts in several states now doubt or dismiss CDC recommendations. A public health official called the CDC's immunization committee "no longer a trusted source for vaccine guidance." Previously, CDC vaccine guidance informed insurance coverage and aligned professional medical society recommendations.

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