In response to the federal government’s changes to vaccine policies, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has authorized the state to seek out its own future guidance when recommending public immunizations and health care.
Newsom signed Assembly Bill 144 (AB 144) into law on Sept. 17, making the change official as he continues to separate the state from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new law also mandates state funding for transgender treatments and abortions.
AB 144 allows the state to establish vaccines and preventive health care recommendations by using independent authorities instead of the CDC, including the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Newsom said the state took action because of what he called the “Trump administration’s chaos and politicization of science.”
Earlier this month, Newsom formed a new alliance with Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii called the West Coast Health Alliance, after claiming that the CDC had become a “political tool” to peddle ideology.
“Our states are united in putting science, safety, and transparency first—and in protecting families with clear, credible vaccine guidance,” Newsom said in a joint statement with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.
“The West Coast Health Alliance stands united in protecting public health and always putting safety before politics,” the governors said.
The state’s public health department also released its newly updated list of vaccine recommendations on Sept. 17.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has accelerated efforts to remake national vaccine policies. In the past few weeks, he has restricted eligibility for COVID-19 shots and boosted federal support for states’ vaccine exemptions.
He also dismantled the process of vaccine recommendation review and expanded the national vaccine advisory board by appointing new members. The vaccine advisory board on Sept. 18 halted its recommendation of a combination measles shot for young children.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesman Andrew Nixon said the CDC continues to follow science.
“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,” Nixon told The Epoch Times in an email.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Capitol Hill on May 20, 2025. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
Nixon said that the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee “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.”
In May, the CDC removed the recommendation of the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women.
“It’s common sense and it’s good science,” Kennedy said in the announcement.
California and the newly formed West Coast Health Alliance will continue to recommend the COVID vaccines for children, despite the cancellation, but those recommendations are separate from specific school requirements.
“The COVID-19 vaccine is no longer required for school,” California Department of Public Health spokesman Grant Boyken told The Epoch Times.
Transgender Treatment, Abortion Covered
Some hot-button items were also included in the bill—including state-funded abortion and treatment for people identifying as transgender.
By signing the bill, Newsom authorized the state’s health care reserve fund—funded by the federal government and state taxpayers—to pay health insurance plans to defray the cost of offering “gender-affirming care,” including puberty blockers, hormonal treatments, and transgender surgery.
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in support of Senate Bill 233, which would allow Arizona doctors to perform abortions in California, during a press conference in Sacramento on April 24, 2024. (Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times)
The law also continues the state mandate that health insurance plans sold through the state’s exchange provide coverage for “gender affirming care,” including medical, mental health, and surgical services.
It will also establish the Abortion Access Fund to pay for abortions and provide abortion access. This will be funded by health insurance plans and administered by the Department of Health Care Access and Information.
