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A summary of presentations from the weekly Summit partner webinars

November 20, 2025 – The latest Summit Summary

West Coast Health Alliance – James Watt, MD, MPH, Acting Deputy Director and Deputy State Epidemiologist, Center for Infectious Diseases, California Department of Public Health

James Watt, MD gave updates about alliances and collaboratives developed in response to the shifting federal environment around immunization and public health.

West Coast Health Alliance [California Immunization Recommendations and the West Coast Health Alliance] – James Watt, MD, MPH
When the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) dissolved in the spring of 2025, California identified more than 24 places in state law where ACIP immunization recommendations were referenced, including which vaccines state-regulated health plans were required to pay for and which vaccines pharmacists could administer. California worked to amend those sections of state law to use immunization recommendations from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), rather than ACIP recommendations, and it also added liability protection accordingly. Official CDPH recommendations, for which CDPH considers recommendations from trusted medical organizations (e.g., American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) and evidence reviews from groups like the Vaccine Integrity Project, can be found on the web page PUBLIC HEALTH FOR ALL.

West Coast Health Alliance
The West Coast Health Alliance (WCHA) was formed by the governors of California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. The purpose of the alliance, which had an initial focus on immunization but is expanding its focus, is to:

  • Uphold integrity of effective public health strategies to protect the health of its communities.
  • Collaborate on the review of the best available science and evidence to make unified recommendations.
  • Support safety, efficacy, transparency, access, and trust.

The WCHA works to:

  • Ensure that the public has access to credible information.
  • Coordinate recommendations/communications to reduce confusion and increase public trust.
  • Provide evidence-based position statements, policy recommendations, and guidance.
  • Align with respected national professional organization and share tools and best practices.

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Northeast Public Health Collaborative – Pejman Talebian, MA, MPH, Director, Immunization Division, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Pejman Talebian, MA, MPH gave updates about alliances and collaboratives developed in response to the shifting federal environment around immunization and public health.

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Northeast Public Health Collaborative – Pejman Talebian, MA, MPH
Last year, many states in the Northeast saw the loss of federal funding; staff capacity; and science-based guidelines and recommendations, which led to an erosion of public trust. Because cities and states are mandated to protect the health of their residents, the need for interstate and city collaboration emerged as a pillar of the necessary response. The Northeast Public Health Collaborative (NPHC) grew from a November 2024 meeting of several state epidemiologists across the Northeast and New York City, which led to various jurisdictions beginning, in early 2025, to meet routinely to discuss potential approaches to address the loss of federal capacity.

Early successes included states and jurisdictions developing things like updated post-illness return-to-work guidelines, approaches for purchasing vaccines without federal Vaccines for Children funding, and partnerships with foundations for funding for planning and growth of the collaborative.

Northeast Public Health Collaborative
The Northeast Public Health Collaborative (NPHC) principles are:

  • [The mission is] to monitor and navigate the evolving public health landscape, ensure a coordinated approach in adapting to that landscape, and identify and implement best practices, standardized procedures, and new solutions — all in service of safeguarding the health and well-being of the populations we serve.
  • Each jurisdiction retains autonomy, with the right to participate/align, or not, on any given action or initiative.
  • The collaborative and its initiatives will continue to evolve to best meet the public health needs of its communities.
  • It shall be an apolitical coalition of state and big city health departments in HHS Regions 1-3.

NPHC consists of the following jurisdictions: Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, New York City, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont. Its structure includes executive leadership, governance/steering, legal/policy, communications, and working groups. It seeks to maintain communications and collaboration with the WCHA, the Governors Public Health Alliance (GPHA), along with various organizations in the public health ecosystem (e.g., foundations, associations, strategic advisors).

Long-term, NPHC is focused on continuing to formalize structure/procedures/internal operations and identifying priority issues for its workgroups.

Immunizations Are a Fall 2025 Priority
NPHC issued or will issue the following:

  • COVID-19 guidance;
  • Pre- and Post-September ACIP meeting guidance/statements on COVID-19 and MMR-V votes;
  • Joint planning around procurement/distribution alternatives; and
  • Hepatitis B vaccine assessment/statements.

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Governor’s Public Health Alliance – Angela Botticella, MPPA, Managing Director, Governor’s Public Health Alliance

Angela Botticella, MPPA gave updates about alliances and collaboratives developed in response to the shifting federal environment around immunization and public health.

Governors Public Health Alliance – Angela Botticella, MPPA
The Governors Public Health Alliance (GPHA) is a new coalition of governors working to protect public health in their states and across the country. It was formed in response to major cuts to federal agencies, abrupt firings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the announcement of the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization.

GPHA, which currently represents 130M people, is comprised of the following 15 governors (states):

  • Gavin Newsom (CA)
  • Jared Polis (CO)
  • Ned Lamont (CT)
  • Matt Meyer (DE)
  • Lou Leon Guerrero (GU)
  • Josh Green (HI)
  • JB Pritzker (IL)
  • Maura Healey (MA)
  • Wes Moore (MD)
  • Josh Stein (NC)
  • Phil Murphy (NJ)
  • Kathy Hochul (NY)
  • Tina Kotek (OR)
  • Dan McKee (RI)
  • Bob Ferguson (WA)

GPHA Pillars
The following pillars have been identified for GPHA:

  1. Coordinating strategic messaging for things such as health threat detection, emergency preparedness and response, and public health guidance and policy;
  2. Supporting collaboration and communication on technical and regulatory health matters, especially in light of the effects ACIP meetings may have on public health guidelines; and
  3. Exploring cross-border data exchanges across states and around the world to continue to work with trusted partners and the international health community to continue to make data-informed decisions for public health.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: For Pejman Talebian: Are you able to make all the tools that you are creating as part of your work groups more broadly accessible to some of our other public health partners in other states, either through the Summit or by other means?
Pejman Talebian (MDPH): Possibly. I can [check] with our governance team. I lead the immunization work group, so I can primarily speak to the work that they’re doing. Some of this broader work that I described, the leadership from the coalition shared with me, but I can certainly share [your question] with them and ask them to follow up with you directly.

Q: For James Watt: How much interaction do you have among the state epidemiologists that are not in these alliances? How is that communication going?
James Watt (CDPH): We are talking with other states through a variety of different channels. You’ve heard about some of the conversations that are happening through the Governor’s Health Alliance: We’re reaching out through that pathway. We’re also having some state-to-state conversations. We get calls from other states just checking in on ways for us to collaborate. And then we do have, on the West Coast, a long-standing collaboration amongst our technical experts and epidemiologists, so we collaborate at a technical level and have conversations, as well. So, lots of different avenues to reach out and check in with other states and coordinate as much as we can.

Q: There are questions about outreach that can — or is going to — be happening with potential changes in governors as state elections happen…or reaching across to adjacent states who may not be in your groups already, states that have governors with a range of political affiliations. Can we talk about how that’s happening?
Pejman Talebian (MDPH): Yes, I can talk about the Northeast collaborative. We are, primarily, all blue states already, and the governor’s elections in Virginia and New Jersey, kept those states blue. Virginia’s not part of the coalition yet, but it could be a new member added to the Northeast. I can’t speak for them necessarily. We also have some states that are more purplish that have participated, either formally or informally. It’s true that every state is in a different place in terms of where their leadership is and how supportive they are of this work. And unfortunately, it is reflective of why, right now, the majority of these two coalition memberships are primarily blue states.
Angela Botticella (GPHA): Like all these organizations, we are non-profit and nonpartisan, and so we are doing that outreach to states that are not just Democratic governors. And to date, we’ve held informal briefings that have included more than 20 states across the political spectrum. So, I remain hopeful, because public health doesn’t know those lines. So, we’re going to continue that outreach and broad engagement on these issues.

Q: For states that may not be directly involved, currently, do you have thoughts on other activities that states that are not involved can do without rocking their boat? Sounds like you have some informal participation that can happen, as well, but any other suggestions of what people in states that may not be in these collaboratives could be doing?
Angela Botticella (GPHA): We will continue to have some informal briefings where we will invite all voices from states to participate, and we’ll be sure to let you all know when those are happening.
Pejman Talebian (MDPH): I can also mention that, at least at the immunization level, the Association of Immunization Managers is inclusive of all the CDC immunization awardees, so it’s, I think, 66 or 68 projects now, so it is inclusive. And all of us are meeting on an almost weekly basis now, discussing some of the current issues. So at least at that level, there’s quite a bit of information-sharing happening. And some of that does work its way up within the organizations, within the health departments.

Q: Are any of you aware of any regional collaborative approaches regarding vaccine purchase challenges, in the absence of, maybe, a federal recommendation?
Pejman Talebian (MDPH): Yes, that is something that the Northeast collaborative has been looking at. We, specifically in Massachusetts, have been working on this ourselves. And we’ve been bringing some of our work to the collaborative. In addition, AIM has also stood up a vaccine distribution work group where this is also being talked about, and it’s a much broader workgroup. I think we have over 20 states represented in that workgroup. And again, it’s everyone from Massachusetts to Idaho, so it runs the gamut in terms of the types of states that are interested in doing this work. So, we’re talking about it at that level as well. There’s some contingency planning work happening, where we’re engaging with vaccine distributors and manufacturers.

Q: For Angela Botticella: Do you think there will be opportunities for a more formal arrangement between the alliances, where you might, for example, arrange formal meetings once a month to exchange public health advances, or do you think it’s just going to be more informal, the way you’ve described it?
Angela Botticella (GPHA): Regarding coordinating Western and Northeastern into one cohesive body, the Governor’s Public Health Alliance provides a national support structure to coordinate at the governor’s level, and I will say that one of the first things that I wanted to do when I got into this position was to meet with those two alliances. I’ve done one [meeting] so far, and I think I have the other one scheduled, so we can make sure that we are coordinating efforts and lifting each other up where it makes sense, because the only way we’re going to do better is together. So, they were at the top of my list to make sure that we’re working together and figuring out what more we might be able to do.
James Watt (CDPH): We’re eager to coordinate, and we’ve already had conversations with the East Coast Consortium on several topics and look forward to continuing that.

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National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) It’s On Us Respiratory Disease Campaign and News Briefing Series – Rebecca Alvania, PhD, MA, MPH, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, NFID and Diana Olson, Senior Director, Strategic Communications, NFID

Rebecca Alvania, PhD, MA, MPH, and Diana Olson gave an update about the It’s On Us respiratory disease campaign and news briefing series.

NFID Campaign: Preventing Respiratory Disease This Fall and Winter – Rebecca Alvania, PhD, MA, MPH and Diana Olson
The National Foundation of Infectious Diseases (NFID) has traditionally worked with the CDC to kick off the respiratory season with a coordinated news conference. This year, with confusion and conflicting messages in the environment, NFID took a different approach consisting of a series of focused news events between October and December, following by a paid media blitz.

2024-2025 Respiratory Season Awareness Campaign
The NFID approach to messaging this season has provided the benefits of multiple touchpoints throughout local, national, and trade media; the ability to bring in more partners in messaging; and the flexibility to adjust messaging as changes occur. The focused news events and media include(d):

  • Briefings
    • October 1: Pregnant Women and Children
      • This briefing included expert panelists from trusted medical organizations, the Vaccine Integrity Project, and a powerful story from Families Fighting Flu.
    • October 29: Healthcare Professionals
      • This briefing highlighted the fact that healthcare professionals are the most trusted messengers for immunization information. It provided support, tools, and guidance for immunization conversations and included panelists from the American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, and American Pharmacists Association, plus Todd Wolynn of the Trusted Messenger program.
    • December 3:
      • This briefing served as a pulse check on this respiratory season and included a panel of experts and a patient story.
  • Earned Media Coverage
    • Outreach related to confusion in the immunization space, CDC and MMWR disruptions, inquiries about H3N2 influenza strains, and the effectiveness of flu vaccines in preventing severe outcomes.
  • Paid Media Strategies
    • Messaging included that it’s not too late to get vaccinated and the importance of vaccination for older adults (includes local media, PSA-style radio, sponsored articles, audio news).
  • Partner Engagement
    • Partnership with NFID (and there are 300+) partners about contributing stories, sharing resources, and getting involved.
    • During National Influenza Vaccination Week, NFID will be working with Families Fighting Flu and the American Heart, Lung, and Diabetes Associations, and other partners to extend the reach of messaging.

Please become an NFID partner, including by joining the Leading By Example initiative and sharing vaccination photos online (www.nfid.org/lbe). All NFID resources, including briefings and various campaign offerings, can be found at www.nfid.org.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: Will the news briefing be recorded for people not able to [attend]?
Diana Olson (NFID): Yes. All the news briefings and the resources from all the partners who participated in the previous briefings are available on the website at nfid.org/2025flunews.

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Announcements
  • The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a sign-on letter [Coalition Statement in Response to CDC Autism & Vaccines Webpage Changes] and the following announcement:
    • On November 19, 2025, the CDC altered its website falsely claiming that vaccines cause autism. Since 1998, independent researchers across seven countries have conducted more than 40 high-quality studies involving over 5.6 million people. The conclusion is clear and unambiguous: There’s no link between vaccines and autism. We are writing to ask if your organizations would like to join a coalition statement with other health, medical, and public health organizations, as well as autism groups. If you have any questions, please contact Stu Mosseau (smosseau@aap.org).
  • Save the date for the 2026 National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit in-person meeting: May 19 – 21, 2026 at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia in Atlanta, GA.

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