Maryland is the latest state to join a 10-state coalition created in response to changes in federal vaccine recommendations.
The Northeast Public Health Collaborative includes New York and Pennsylvania, and is similar to an initiative out west that includes California and Oregon.
As families consider vaccinations they’ll seek this fall, News4 spent time with Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dr. Meena Seshamani as she got her own flu shot at a clinic in Wheaton.
News4 asked why Maryland opted to join the coalition.
“There has been a lot around changing federal guidelines, and we in Maryland remain committed to using evidence-based guidelines to keep Marylanders healthy. That is why we joined the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, where we can work collaboratively with other states in evaluating clinical guidelines, in looking at how to enable the supply of vaccines and make sure shots can get into arms,” Seshamani said.
She was a medical doctor before her current role and said she relishes the opportunity to give fact-based evidence to improve Marylanders’ health.
Maryland recommends that almost everyone get vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu. A standing order allows Marylanders to access the COVID vaccine more easily.
State guidelines say the COVID vaccine is “especially important” for people 65 and older and those at risk fo severe infection.
The state’s recommendations come after former public health officials said Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is endangering public health and undermining science by ordering a change to the recommended vaccine schedule and promoting scientifically unproven anti-vaccine rhetoric.
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