Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and potentially other northeastern states are considering forming a regional vaccine advisory group after turmoil at the federal level has cast doubt on the effectiveness of the national panel.

The regional panel would serve a similar purpose as the national committee — to recommend vaccine schedules and weigh in on topics like who should receive COVID-19 booster shots.

Dr. Nirav Shah, a former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director, former top U.S. CDC official and currently a visiting professor at Colby College, said the move to create new vaccine advisory panels is prudent under current conditions.

“Nationwide, we are likely to see more state and local efforts of this sort as the federal government pulls back on aspects of public health and environmental protection,” Shah told the Press Herald. The news on the regional groups possibly forming was first reported by the Washington Post on June 24.

A Maine Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., health and human services secretary and a longtime anti-vaccine activist, dismissed all 17 members of the national panel — called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP — on June 9. Kennedy replaced them with eight appointees who more closely align with his views.

In its first meeting with the new members on June 25 the panel cast doubt on the childhood immunization schedule, which has proven safe and effective at preventing infectious diseases like measles, mumps, chickenpox, whooping cough and polio.

The panel also recommended against flu vaccines that contain thimerosal, a preservative that has been found to be safe. The recommendations against its use do not have much of an impact because thimerosal is rarely used in influenza vaccines.

The ACIP — an advisory group to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for decades until Kennedy fired the panel — has convened many of the top infectious disease scientists in the U.S. Its recommendations in years past were considered the gold standard and typically were given final approval by federal authorities. Insurance companies cover the vaccines recommended by the panel and approved by federal agencies.

What will happen to insurance coverage and other logistical issues, such as whether people can get vaccines at a pharmacy, is unclear. To make sure vaccine access is preserved, a number of medical groups are stepping in.

Professional medical organizations, pharmacists and vaccine manufacturers are considering a flurry of efforts, according to the Washington Post, to preserve a system that will maintain access to vaccinations without the immunizations being dropped from insurance coverage. Pharmacists also typically administer vaccines based on guidelines from federal agencies.

The Vaccine Integrity Project, based at the University of Minnesota, is among the groups leading these efforts, with support from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Pharmacists Association, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and other professional health groups.

Andrew Nixon, HHS spokesman, said in a statement to the Washington Post that the Trump administration remains “committed to ensuring that vaccine guidance is rigorous, independent and truly in service to the health of the American people — not corporate interests.”

Kennedy, in May, also sidestepped the U.S. CDC and the ACIP by recommending, without evidence, that healthy children and pregnant women no longer receive updated COVID-19 shots.