PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Northeast states are banding together to create a public health coalition.

It comes as a CDC advisory panel changes recommendations for childhood vaccines .

The panel is newly appointed by Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who is a vaccine critic.

On Thursday, the panel decided to separate the chickenpox vaccine from the widely used MMR combination vaccine used to fight the measles, mumps, and rubella.

Friday, the panel could decide if newborns should no longer receive the Hepatitis B vaccine.

The Academy of Pediatrics is blasting the decision, telling parents not to listen.

ALSO SEE: Why doctors say the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine is still necessary

Pennsylvania and New Jersey has formally announced the Northeast Public Health Collaborative

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