Imagine you were deprived easy access to a COVID-19 vaccine simply because you lived on the west bank of the Snake River rather than the east, in Oregon rather than in Idaho.

This disturbing possibility is not far-fetched.

Officials from Oregon, along with at least five other states and the District of Columbia, have said they will conduct separate reviews of any coronavirus vaccine the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizes.

This is not only unnecessary, but it could stymie the states’ efforts to make significant progress in curbing the pandemic by distributing a vaccine.

Although the Oregon Health Authority didn’t mention the Trump administration in a statement about its plan for a separate review, officials in other states have cited concerns about the president interfering in the vaccine approval process as justification.

But medical experts say this is misguided.

“States should stay out of the vaccine review business,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Trump has quarreled with federal medical officials, certainly. But his blustering about the imminent availability of a COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t warrant states’ overreactions. The state reviews not only could delay distribution of the vaccine, but they almost certainly would inflame skepticism — unfounded skepticism — about the vaccine’s safety.

In reality, the FDA seems immune to the administration’s pressure. Last week, the agency announced new safety standards for vaccine makers, in defiance of White House efforts. This likely will prevent any vaccine from being approved before the election on Nov. 3.

State officials accuse the president of politicizing a medical matter. But if they interfere with this most important inoculation campaign in decades, they, not the Trump administration, will be responsible for endangering people for no good reason.