Big Relief as Northeast Public Health Collaborative is Officially Formed

The Northeast Public Health Collaborative is official. It's a voluntary coalition to help protect its states from the willful ignorance of the Trump administration’s HHS Department.

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Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York State, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York City are joining in a voluntary coalition to help protect their states from the willful ignorance of the Trump administration’s HHS Department, such as it is.

The Northeast Public Health Collaborative is “a voluntary regional coalition of public health agencies and leaders, brought together to share expertise, improve coordination, enhance capacity, strengthen regional readiness, and promote and protect evidence-based public health,” according to their press release on Thursday.

Their shared goals “is to protect the health, safety and well-being of all residents by providing information based on science, data, and evidence, while working to ensure equitable access to vaccines, medications and services.”

“Members of the Collaborative worked together on science-based guidance for health care personnel (HCP) advising on precautions health care workers should take to protect themselves and patients during respiratory virus season.”

In other words, while the brainworm is in charge of HHS, these folks will do their best to protect the people in their states, collaborating together to issue science-and-evidence based guidance so that people aren’t left on their own to sort through the disinformation and conspiracies.

The West Coast already has a health alliance, and it’s already issuing guidance for vaccines. “The West Coast Health Alliance (WCHA) — formed by the governors of Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii earlier this month — formally issued a winter virus vaccination list the day before a CDC advisory panel is slated to meet to review vaccine recommendations.”

Why is this needed?

RFK, Jr was put in charge of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) by Donald Trump, even though he was clearly unsuited to the job and does not have any background related to the job, other than vaccine skepticism. He was an environmental lawyer, after all. He is best known for his anti-vaccine claims and health-related conspiracy theories.

So naturally, he was put in charge of Health and Human Services, much like Pete Hegseth “lacks the qualifications, credibility, and leadership experience to steer the Pentagon” but was put in charge of Defense. Like the current FBI Director Kash Patel has no experience as a senior law enforcement official or as an FBI agent — a fact that is made apparent every time we turn to the FBI for answers on anything right now.

Trump’s Cabinet is about loyalty and partisanship over expertise. Conspiracy theorists, abusers and addicts are a bonus.

Kennedy has made numerous controversial decisions, especially concerning vaccines and the role of public health agencies, drawing intense criticism from public health experts, medical associations, and former government officials as Kennedy undermines science and endangers public health.

In June 2025, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and then replaced them with a new panel that included vaccine skeptics and allies.

He announced that the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women or healthy children, even though evidence shows that pregnant women are at higher risk of complications from COVID-19.

He cancelled nearly half a billion dollars in federal funding for the development of mRNA vaccine. Kennedy’s irrational vaccine skepticism is so strong that even after two unvaccinated children died from the measles, he refused to strongly encourage vaccination, instead blaming malnutrition for their deaths.

While vaccine skepticism knows no political side of the aisle, and everyone is entitled to question what goes into a vaccine and if it’s right for themselves, the difference here is Kennedy is in charge of a scientific and medical branch of the government and yet he doesn’t seem to understand or respect either. He is literally charged with keeping the nation as safe from disease as he can and he chooses deliberate health violence instead.

The job is to advise the president on health policy, oversee major health agencies like the FDA, CDC, NIH, and CMS, manage Medicare and Medicaid programs, and direct the national response to public health emergencies. He is also supposed to be developing policies to improve the quality and efficiency of health and welfare programs for all Americans.

Kennedy stated in a 2012 deposition reviewed by The New York Times that doctors told him a parasitic worm had entered his brain, "ate a portion of it and then died," around 2010.

He said he experienced severe memory loss and brain fog. Also around the same time, he was diagnosed with mercury poisoning, which he attributed to a diet heavy in predatory fish and after chelation therapy, Kennedy claimed his cognitive issues had been resolved.

Thank goodness for federalism, y’all, because over and over again, the Trump Cabinet is AWOL on their duties to this country. Their dereliction of duty has left primarily blue states to patch up the holes as best as they can from and for their jurisdictions.

What do you think about the Northeast Health Collaborative? Share your thoughts in the comments below.