Trump/RFK are destroying the American public health system, so Dem governors need to step up now and defend their constituents against this madness. In this piece, I suggest things these govs can do to protect their people. This is a big opening to show leadership. newrepublic.com/article/1998...
@ncgovernor.bsky.social Please consider this tactic.
We should all be contributing to and communicating with the Democratic Governors Association (DGA).
We applaud Pritzker’s leadership here and hope he applies it to other sectors as well. Get Lefkofsky and other Dem billionaires involved. Get the universities involved. We have the resources in Illinois; let’s use them. And create a blueprint for other blue states.
Hope they buy Novavax too and not just MRNA
To show leadership, and also to accomplish good things. Even the most timid Dems want to show they're achieving concrete benefits for constituents.
manningkrull.com/digital-phil...
I love Chicago in the winter!
Good luck convincing Jered Polis that this is a smart idea. I'm already steamed that CO has some state law such that RFK Jr's new limits on covid vaccines mean that even people over 65 now need an explicit prescription to get one. This is going to kill a lot of people and it's all unnecessary. 😱
It needs CDC approval, which may or may not happen under RFK's anti vax destruction.
This is happening in NC as well but not because CO and NC are terrible. The existing laws served to ensure that available vaccines were cleared by the vaccine advisory board. That worked until RFKJr corrupted the board, so now those laws hamstring what would otherwise be advised vaccines.
For example, I can get a shot in SC because SC has historically been so contrarian that they had no such law. SC also allows unpasteurized milk for sale. So states w/ laws to protect public health are ironically affected because the pub. health infrastructure has been corrupted by MAHA sociopaths.
I should add that this is not a comment on Polis but rather an explanation of existing state law that complicates distributing vaccines not approved by the vaccine advisory board.
Yes, I understand the law and why it exists, and that this is all RFK Jr's fault. But Polis thinks RFK Jr is doing a great job and I was also very unhappy with his policies during the initial COVID outbreak in 2020.
For instance, instead of statewide restrictions, Polis set up tracking of COVID rates by county, and counties were supposed to manage things themselves subject to stricter quarantines/shutdowns if their rates got too high. Rates got too high and Polis did NOTHING but set the scale higher!
Not defending Polis! Just explaining the irony of why laws many states have had for decades to safeguard public health are backfiring in the face of abject corruption by the Trump-RFKJr. killing machine.
Governor Hochul (D-New York), ARE YOU LISTENING?!?! Lead. That’s your job. Thank you! Regards, A concerned New Yorker
“Dem governors”, “step up”
Maybe some Republican governors might consider protecting their constituents?
and defy trump?
Health officials under JB Pritzker, who is showing how to take on Trump, are moving forward. They're exploring buying vaccines in bulk themselves. Mass. Gov Maura Healey is in talks with multiple other states about coordinating purchasing of pediatric vaccines. newrepublic.com/article/1998...
It’s the loss of research, the end of our broad bank of scientists that we must find a way to reconstitute & support. We can not allow idiocy to win the day. There will be no future vaccines, no cancer or Alzheimer cures if States don’t create their own science based agencies to fill the void.
Further widening the liveability divide between blue and red states.
I approve Putting citizens and children first when trump won’t
When do we stop sending our tax dollars to Washington? Do I change my withholding to $0 and Next April do all the blue state residents just not pay federal taxes and somehow send it to their state treasury? Do they send us all to jail?
The should give this group of states a name. I dunno just spitballing here something like “The United States”
@govpritzker.illinois.gov Why not buy together with all blue states?
Any chance of out of state folks visiting to get these? Signed, a dad from Indiana.
Most of my family is in Indiana and I'll fucking drive them here to Illinois for their shots myself tbh
You’d probably have to pay out of pocket because your insurance wouldn’t cover it, but I think it would be possible. Women cross state lines for abortions when they’re forced to; this seems similar
This is VERY much a speed run of how they chipped away at abortion access.
I like your screen name. 😊
Thanks!
Or you could always travel to Canada for free healthcare, as former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin admits her parents did to get their Alaska family medical attention at no cost.
I’ve been reading that every morning the 23 blue state governors have a conference call to work together on things blue states can do to protect themselves during all this defunding, etc.
YES!
@governorferguson.bsky.social
If the federal government takes away the liability program, and they don't approve them, then no health insurance will cover those vaccines, and no healthcare providers will administer them.
This all feels like the beginning of COVID where we flew in a secret plane of PPE for the state of Illinois. Really fun acting like my job is all cloak and dagger stuff.
I came here to say that too.
Bypass worm brain entirely! Unfortunately only blue states will do this for their citizens. Red states will just get sicker.
And red states contain a lot of blue voters who can’t just up and move for a variety of reasons
Unfortunately that is true. I’m one of them.
The federated states of sanity 🙏
Best form of revenge is to make yourself better. Good strategy here.
@joshsteinnc.bsky.social
I hope @governorferguson.bsky.social is taking action too
That we have to 10th Amendment our way out of this tyrannical government is crazy
States can just do this! They don't need permission! lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/file...
Very glad to hear Gov Healey is working on that! I hope she’s also going to make the vaccine available to healthy adults too.
Great, they should also work with other states on picking up that moderna bird flu contract.
That’s the responsibility of the major egg producers, as they’re generally located in red states. worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankin...
Time to move to a blue state where some shreds of sanity remain
@governorwalz.mn.gov check it
Hey, @governor.ca.gov, are we in? After all, you are THE MOST HANDSOME GOVERNOR ON EARTH (MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING) AND YOU DIDN'T GROW ALL THAT HAIR WITHOUT YOUR JABS.
If someone in the press corps would ask the pink lady what the WH thinks about all this, you'll be able to see the veins in her neck as she tears into "activist governors."
I don't give a shit what Nazi Barbie thinks about governors that actually look out for their constituents
We taxpayers in blue states refuse to pay taxes for services we no longer receive from the federal government. Our taxes must go for our state services. Blue states unite now
This is GREAT. But it needs to be more than pediatric vaxes. Those kids live in homes with grown ups who are vulnerable without vaxes. Many are in daycare with grownups who are vulnerable. Please get vaxes for all who want them
One thing Dem governors can do is scale up clinics and use those to help people get Covid vaccines who will suddenly find it a lot harder under Trump/RFK's deranged new restrictions on them, one expert tells me. newrepublic.com/article/1998...
We should be giving our federal taxes to the states at this point
What can they do for out-of-red-state people who can't afford the gasmoney for such a long trip?
No trouble getting Covid vaccine here in Illinois. Have appointments for this week.
How do you get around licensing and insurance issues. We’re governed by CMS/FDA CDC recommendations and guidelines
States can require health insurers to cover vaccines even if they’re not recommended. And pretty much anyone can claim the risk factor of “lack of physical activity”
All true. The idea we're even discussing the idea the federal government is making it hard for me to provide normal health care for my family is absurd.
Dems in red states will have to go to blue states to get the vaccinations, which is bad. MAGA supporters who agree with this lunatic can just die as they see fit.
Some red states are more than 10 hours away from a blue state. Blue voters will definitely die unnecessarily in those areas.
Note that the FDA doesn't regulate pharmacists. The only thing that stops Illinois pharmacists from providing Covid vaccines is Illinois state law, which mandates CDC compliance *only for Covid*. By repealing (10) and (11), Illinois could make its pharmacists fully independent of RFK.
(I suspect those restrictions were written into law back when Covid vaccines were scarce, so that pharmacists would triage their supplies per CDC guidance).
Blue states can also buy vaccines in bulk and distribute them via their chief medical officer or via doctors, says @sbagen.bsky.social. The idea would be to make vaccines available to all, including those restricted under RFK lunacy. Great stuff from Sam here: newrepublic.com/article/1998...
The future of America belongs in the blue states. That’s why Trump is declaring war on them. @governor.ca.gov @govpritzker.illinois.gov @governorferguson.bsky.social @chrislhayes.bsky.social @muellershewrote.com
Cause red states gonna be depopulated
True. And red states (and the federal government) can’t survive without funding from taxes collected from blue state citizens. When blue state governments command companies in their states not to collect federal taxes that will be the end of red states. @governor.ca.gov @govpritzker.illinois.gov
So what you’re saying is if Joseph Ladapo is your state’s Surgeon General, you’re fucked.
I'm thinking that part of the reasoning for the fed govt to NOT recommend vaccines is so the insurance companies don't have to cover the costs.
This is true but physicians may have to take on liability which could result in many choosing not to prescribe off-label. Particularly in these deeply partisan, litigious times. But states should be exploring all options open to them.
Legislatures could pass shield laws for that
The Dem governor in CO is still praising RFK Jr. A mix of garden variety Boulder vaccine denialism and trying to keep Space Force in CO - my theory.
Let’s do it @massgovernor.bsky.social !
I'd buy Blue State Insurance.
You neglected to include alt text
Sounds good until trump/rfk threaten drug wholesalers and vaccine manufacturers with sanctions unless they stop selling directly to blue states
Blue state health officials can create a group similar to AG's association. Or Govs can jointly release a statement committing to vaccine science. That would be powerful: Blue states collectively standing up for public health while Trump/RFK destroy it. newrepublic.com/article/1998...
Blue- and possibly purple-state health networks make sense. However that is just the start. Those states need to prepare for ways to stop directly sending taxes to the federal government and for ways they can provide common support with a view toward leaving the union if necessary.
New England is going there already. bsky.app/profile/isab...
We have a Democratic Governors Association
@governor.ca.gov
This is where a Dem Govs Association could become a powerful leader, much like the Dem AGs. Dem AGs have divided up Project 2025 and different states have offered to take the lead on, say, health care or the environment. Then one state files a lawsuit, and many more pile on. They are winning!
@threadreader.bsky.social unroll
This is the way forward. Let’s do this
@govwesmoore.bsky.social
@demgovs.org
Northeast state Health Departments already starting to work together to coordinate activities moving forward: vtdigger.org/2025/08/28/w...
If Trump and RFK are going to rip the country in half over public health, Dems should polarize the living heck out of this debate on their own terms. Scour the law for as many ways as possible to protect your people from Trump/RFK's reign of mass destruction. newrepublic.com/article/1998...
It's insurance companies that are going to be the final arbiter for many families who want to be vaccinated. States may need their own advisory boards and updated requirements for insurance companies to follow if they want to sell insurance within their borders. FFS. None of this needed to happen.
Everyone needs a movement like Whole Washington (we’re trying to kick insurance companies out of our state and get a state healthcare plan going. Ironically all this federal breakdown might make it finally possible!).
💖
Democrats dropped the ball in May 2021 when they shrugged and said, "eh, no need to keep masking" Signed, Everyone they threw under the Covid bus
Watching all that from EUR I do have some questions, our health systems seem to be quite different: 1. is health politics in the hand of the states, like California, Illinois, etc? 2. Can it be overruled by POTUS? 3. Or would the DEM Gov's, by means of health politics, vaccines etc be able to
B)divide up the country into a healthy & a sick "half"? & if so, how would the DEM states be able to avoid health tourism? & if so, how could the DEMs undermine, that in the end they HELP POTUS by improving REPs worse stats? 4.Are the DEM states wealthy (BIP) enough to manage that on their own?
The most civil of civil wars
At this point, I'm not sure how important "scouring the law" is. Probably just collectively come up with some new ones, that'll be fine.
The living heck?
If this isn't already happening, it very much should be. @asmmiabonta.bsky.social @drpanmd.bsky.social @governor.ca.gov
States creating their own COVID vaccine distribution systems is vitally important, as CVS is making it more difficult to get vaccinated in their stores some states. www.axios.com/2025/08/29/c...
What’s going to be really fun is when blue states build walls to keep out the infected during the next pandemic
Wyoming actually tried putting restrictions on Coloradans going there in the spring of 2020
Nah. We want visitors. We can just make everyone wear masks and get vaccinated, and that will scare the MAGAs away.
Simply hang a rainbow banner.
Let me help you
I’m in too!
Need to rescue the red state hostages before that!
Blue dots from red states welcome.
So the blue states will effectively be the CDC for those in red states as well? Who travel so they can receive care? We already fund them, so I guess why not
Whatever it costs blue states should be withheld from state tax $$$ sent to Washington. #SoftSecession
Heck, here in Oregon we residents can't even get an appointment to see a doctor. Not enough doctors or nurses & they are overworked & underpaid so they are leaving the profession. It took me 6 months to see my GP, 18 mos. to get to an orthopedist. But we are going to take out of state patients too?
It is a problem which is why I think residency requirements would be necessary, fine with the idea those who aren’t in our tax base pay more to account for that IF there is space available of course. It’s like medical tourism but between states, something already happening anyway.
Blue states should charge back the patients home state (with a fee) to offset their Welfare State payments.
You can impose residency requirements and then just charge out of states a bit more to recoup costs. I’d be fine with that as a blue state resident.
bsky.app/profile/chry...
I was being a bit snarky. Those who want abortions and vaccinations will come to the blue states.
Here in #Minnesota, there are already clinics operating in Moorhead to provide people in North Dakota care they need that that state's government is trying to deny them. No additional costs are charged, because the entire point is to get as many people as possible the care they need.
Pros on the blue states - typically have top tier academics/hospitals and professional infrastructure to make this happen. Cons - have you see our finances in IL? **I have been pleasantly surprised by Pritzker leadership after years of mediocre governors.
And then, erect statues of the dems leading this fight, erect them in red states especially.
