Good evening. I'm John Yang. Amid the turmoil at the CDC, the debate over the federal

government's vaccine policy remains as contentious as ever. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy

Jr.'s combative appearance on Capitol Hill this week did little to clear up the issue. He was

pressed by senators of both parties, including two Republicans

who are physicians. Now, some states are taking matters into their own hands. They're forming

alliances to review scientific data and make their own vaccine recommendations. The Democratic

governors of California, Oregon, and Washington were the first act. They were joined the next day by Hawaii.

Earlier, I spoke with Hawaii Governor Josh Green, a Democrat who's a physician.

We are in a great time of crisis as far as public health goes right now. The HHS administration,

led by Mr. Kennedy, is in disarrayay and it's causing a lot of concern across the

country. We need to have good science. We need data-based science. We need evidence-based science.

And so my good friends, the three governors from the West Coast, form this alliance. And I had a lot of

experience as a physician and the person who dealt with COVID in Hawaii as lieutenant governor.

So it just made a lot of sense.

But we're going to try to guide the country in a positive way, just non-politically, but in a way that helps us, you know, protect lots.

How are you going to develop the recommendations?

Who's going to do that?

This will be from scientific experts.

Our expectation is we will use a lot of the people that have been around for several years doing the job under Republicans and Democrats in different administrations, people who are trained pediatricians and infectious disease experts.

It's very likely some of the people that have recently been pushed

out of the CDC or the special committees. They may very well want to come aboard. We also have

directors of health in our own states that are thoughtful public health leaders. All of these people

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