In light of shifting vaccine guidance and the wholesale ouster of a former Centers for Disease Control vaccine advisory committee by HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the question of where to turn for the best medical advice is becoming more complicated.
CNN reports several groups are working to create panels of subject matter experts who would" review the latest science behind vaccines and make evidence based recommendations for their use, much like the CDC has done for the past 60 years."
Meanwhile, nine states have pooled their efforts to launch the Northeast Public Health Collaboration, staffed by state and city health officials.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said, if state health authorities have concerns about federal level guidance, the state will issue its own.
"I'm worried about it, and we will absolutely do it if we believe the CDC is putting out bad advice," Beshear said during a recent press conference. "We didn't go through a public health pandemic, for our people to not get the best, most scientific advice that they can then make decisions on."
Beshear said he's particularly concerned with changes that could undo progress on diseases that have been all but wiped out.
"You look at at measles, and it's one of the most contagious things that the world has ever seen, and we basically eliminated it in the United States in a very safe way. And we've got to make sure that we continue to protect kids, that we continue to get the right recommendations out there," he added.
Beshear made those comments before this week's news that a cluster of new measles cases in Woodford County had spread to Fayette County, raising alarms that Kentucky could see more than the handful of cases it's confirmed so far this year amid a number of outbreaks across the country.
Days after Kennedy revealed that COVID-19 vaccines would be struck from the list of recommended shots for healthy children and pregnant women, the CDC walked that back slightly — saying children could get the vaccine after consulting with health care providers.
But Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said the unorthodox vaccine announcement by Kennedy set a worrying precedent, adding everyone should be "very concerned."
"What we seem to be witnessing now and experiencing now is the arbitrary substitution of personal preferences or opinions for that scientific rigor, for that fact-based approach to making sound medical recommendations, and I think it leaves all of us exposed," he says.
The dispute at the top of federal health agencies led to the resignation of a CDC official overseeing COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.
Stack has said Kennedy's end run around the traditional process has raised a number of questions for anyone seeking medical advice: "Is the guidance currently being offered the right guidance? Is it supported by science? And will insurers pay for immunizations for patients if the federal government doesn't include them on the normal vaccine schedule like it has long done?"
To be clear, as a physician and health commissioner, Stack says he hasn't seen any reason to alter his recommendations to patients.
"I strongly recommend you get your children all of the routine recommended childhood immunizations and that if you have any questions related to that, please seek expert guidance from your pediatrician," the health official said.
As for Kentucky health agencies stepping in with their own guidance in the future, Stack told WUKY that's not out of the question.
"We will continue to make recommendations that we believe are soundly based in science. And yeah, I think we'll have to look, as we go forward, when do things rise to a level that we have to provide our own explicit recommendations specific to Kentuckians, so that hopefully they can have confidence and rely upon that guidance when they make their decisions," he said.
Read more about who should get vaccinated for measles.