15 governors launch alliance to safeguard public health, strengthen preparedness across borders

Governors from 14 states and one U.S. territory launched a new alliance this week to protect the health of people throughout the United States.

The Governors Public Health Alliance will serve as a nonpartisan coordinating hub to facilitate data sharing and communication about health threat detection, emergency preparedness and response, public health guidance and policy and deployment of experts.

Governors from Hawaiʻi, Washington, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Connecticut, Guam, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, California, Colorado, Illinois and North Carolina are part of the initial cohort of the new alliance.

“Viruses and illness don’t stop at state borders and our preparedness shouldn’t either,” said Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green, the nation’s only sitting governor who is also a physician, in a release about the new alliance. “I am proud to be part of this new effort, giving governors and our public health teams new tools to coordinate and deliver clear, consistent, science-based guidance to the public at a time when we are facing unprecedented public health challenges.”

The new alliance supports national coordination on public health at the gubernatorial level, complementing existing mechanisms and interfacing with entities such as the Northeast Public Health Collaborative and West Coast Health Alliance.

It will serve as a unified, cross-state liaison with the global health community and bring together regional and other groups to share best practices and surface common challenges, elevating national considerations for vaccine policy and regulatory solutions to keep science front and center.

“California is proud to help launch this new alliance because the American people deserve a public health system that puts science before politics,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the announcement. “As extremists try to weaponize the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and spread misinformation, we’re stepping up to coordinate across states, protect communities and ensure decisions are driven by data, facts and the health of the American people.”

The alliance welcomes further engagement from governors offices and with public health associations and other relevant groups.

“We can no longer rely on the information coming out of Washington, D.C., but our states are coming together to unequivocally state that science still matters,” said Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson in the announcement. “Diseases don’t stop at state borders — and preparedness shouldn’t either. By joining forces, we will act faster and communicate better to ensure our communities stay healthy.”

Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said her island has seen the effects when people — especially children — are not vaccinated.

“We’ve had cases of measles and other communicable diseases when our neighbors from the outer islands visit or pass through Guam, and they haven’t had the chance to be vaccinated,” said Guerrero in the announcement. “So we know how important it is to protect access to vaccines and other public health protective measures.”

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said governors are stepping up to create clear, coordinated leadership led by facts and science at a time when public health leadership from Washington, D.C., is increasingly unstable.

“Public health is the foundation of everything that makes our states strong: our economy, our schools, our families,” said McKee in the announcement. “I’m proud to join this alliance of fellow governors because when we work together, we get results and that’s exactly what this moment demands.”

The Governors Public Health Alliance is supported by Governors Action Alliance, or GovAct, a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative that supports governors in protecting fundamental freedoms, including public health.

A bipartisan group of public health advisors that includes a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, former Alaska chief medical officer and former White House senior director of global health security and biodefense.

The alliance is also guided by GovAct’s Bipartisan Advisory Board of former governors and former senior federal officials Sally Yates and Larry Thompson.

“With many health threats at our doorstep, collaboration and communication between governors is essential to protect the health of families and save lives,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director and former North Carolina Health and Human Services secretary, in the announcement. “This alliance creates the framework to support the national coordination needed to safeguard communities.”

Participating states have already begun sharing best practices, receiving briefings from public health experts and coordinating on executive actions governors can take to strengthen public health protections, such as standing orders or directives to preserve access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The alliance will continue to provide governors and their teams with toolkits and timely briefings about major policy developments in public health, share coordinated strategies ahead of high-profile events and offer opportunities to discuss health security issues.

“Governors are being asked to do more with less — daily. And yet the challenges keep growing,” said GovAct Chief Executive Officer and Founder Julia Spiegel in the announcement. “GovAct is here to help bring capacity, expertise and know-how so that governors have the tools they need to act decisively, together, to protect the health and well-being of their people.”