New Jersey and nearby states to set vaccine policy
Joint effort is rebuke of RFK Jr., administration
By Scott Fallon
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... New Jersey has joined a coalition of Northeast states to collaborate on public health issues - including vaccine recommendations - as turmoil engulfs the nation's top helaht agency and vaccine policies are being rolled back in Washington.
.....
The new Northeast Public Health collaborative, which officials announced September 18, [2025] follows a similar alliance of western states, in a public rebuke to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and his much-criticized handling of major helaht agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
..... A news release announcing the group did not mention Kennedy or any federal health agency, but it came on the day a key federal panel was meeting on vaccine recommendations for hepatitis B and measles, mumps and rubella.
..... It also came one day after scientist Susan Monarez told lawmakers in Washington that she was fired as CDC director because she refused to dismiss career officials who disagreed with Kennedy about the efficacy of vaccines.
..... Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesman, said the public health agencies in these states were overzealous in their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to eroded public trust.
.....
The Advisory Committee on Immunization practices, which Kennedy stacked with vaccine critics earlier this year, [2025] "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,' Nixon said in a statement.
..... The new northeastern states group has already begun working together on "science-based guidance" about what precautions patients and health care workers should take as the respiratory virus season approaches, according to the release.
..... The other states joining New Jersey are New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. New York City's Health Department has also joined the coalition.
..... The group began working together informally earlier this year [2025] after the Trump administration nominated Kennedy, a noted vaccine critic, to be the top health official in the nation. Representatives of the coalition fist met in Rhode Island in August. [2025]
.....
"Public health, requires regular sharing of information, ideas, and best practices across jurisdictions and state lines,' Jeffrey Brown, New Jersey's acting health commissioner, said in a statement. "Whether it's responding to a pandemic or an outbreak or preparing for a large-scale event such as the upcoming FIFA World Cup, with three host cities in the Northeast, working together helps keep our residents safe and healthy."
..... Like some of his Democratic counterparts in neighboring states, Governor Phil Murphy has already begun defying Kennedy's agency.
..... On September 8, [2025] Brown singed an order recommending that all New Jerseyans age 6 months or older receive the COVID-19 vaccine regardless of their health status.
..... that goes against the Food and Drug Administration's approval of vaccine eligibility requirements that prevent anyone under 65 form getting the COVID vaccine unless they have an underlaying condition.
..... A few days later, the Murphy administration called on insurance companies to cover the vaccine regardless of whether a patient meets the FDA's eligibility requirements.