Public Health for All and the 2025–2026 Vaccine Guidelines for Californians

Why This Matters

Public health might sound complicated, but it really comes down to one thing: keeping people healthy. When fewer people get sick, schools, jobs, and communities all work better. California’s Public Health for All law and the West Coast Health Alliance (WCHA) vaccine guidelines are designed to help make that possible.

Public Health for All

In September 2025, California promised to make preventive health care available for everyone. That means vaccines, health check-ups, and reliable information should be easier for people to get, no matter where they live or how much money they have.

This effort focuses on three main goals:

• Stop illness before it starts.

• Make health care fair and accessible.

• Base decisions on science and trusted experts.

  
  

Seasonal Vaccines for the 2025–2026 Season

This year, experts are especially focused on protecting people from COVID-19, flu, and RSV. The WCHA recommendations explain who should get each vaccine:

• Children and teens

  • COVID-19: All kids 6–23 months, and kids 2–18 years with health risks or who were never vaccinated.

  • Flu: Everyone 6 months and older.

  • RSV: Babies under 8 months, and children 8–19 months with certain risks.

• Pregnant people

  • COVID-19 and flu vaccines are recommended.

  • RSV vaccine is advised between weeks 32–36 of pregnancy to protect newborns.

• Adults

  • COVID-19: All adults 65+, and younger adults with risk factors (asthma, diabetes, hypertension, smoking etc.).

  • Flu: Everyone.

  • RSV: Adults 75+, and adults 50–74 with health risks.

Why It Matters for You

Even if you’re young and healthy, vaccines are important because:

• They help protect family members and friends who may be at higher risk.

• They reduce absences from school, work, and sports.

• They make health care more fair by helping everyone stay safer.

Our Vaccine Philosophy At Big Trees MD: vaccines are safe, preventable diseases are NOT.

We are the ONLY full-scope family medicine clinic in Calaveras County run by physicians. We are the only clinic in Calaveras County where you can be seen for OB services if you are pregnant. We do NOT take science lightly and we have medical degrees which means we have trained for over 17 years - school, training and practice (vs a non-physician who has the equivalent of two years of med school before they are able to practice without physician oversight in California; this is why companies like Adventist Health can remove a patient's access to a physician and go to "non-physician" model clinics, which is what happened at Adventist Health Arnold where the only non-physician provider remaining that patients have access to is a nurse practitioner, not a physician. That said, an influencer on socials has even less education than a non-physician provider, if any, health education). We do not support putting public health at risk based on misinformation. We have seen babies and adults die of flu (preventable), pneumonia (preventable), RSV (preventable), whooping cough (preventable). We have seen Hepatitis B in young people who are not sexually active (preventable) and we have seen cervical cancer take lives (preventable). We have not yet seen measles take the life of an unvaccinated person, but we likely will in our lifetimes now that measles is sadly spreading unnecessarily because of vaccine skepticism and refusal. Again, vaccines are safe, preventable diseases are NOT.

Public health is not just about rules — it’s about values. We believe in access to care for everyone who follows evidence-based science, because that is how we practice medicine. We respect a person has the right to make their own decisions about their bodies, but we are aware when decisions are made to ignore or doubt science and the science and safety of vaccines, the entire community becomes a community at risk.

That means:

• We make recommendations based on research and expert guidance.

• We focus on prevention, not fear.

• We work for fairness to access so no one is left behind due to lack of access.

  
  

By choosing science, we protect ourselves, our families, and our communities. That’s the heart of Public Health for All. If you have any questions ask your physician or non-physician provider.