The FDA recently rescinded emergency authorization for the COVID-19 vaccines and issued new limited approvals.
As federal officials narrow the approval of COVID-19 vaccines and pharmacies limit who can receive them, some states are taking steps to make sure that residents can still access the shots.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, on Sept. 5 signed an executive order that lets pharmacists in the state administer COVID-19 vaccines.
“By signing this executive order, we are sending a clear message that when Washington Republicans play politics with public health, New Yorkers can still get the care they need, close to home, from trusted providers in their own communities,” Hochul said in a statement.
Massachusetts officials said on Sept. 4 that the state’s health commissioner, rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will decide which vaccines can be administered by pharmacists in Massachusetts and that an order makes clear that individuals aged 5 and up can receive a COVID-19 vaccine, while younger kids can receive one from their pediatricians.
They also said in a bulletin to insurers that companies are expected to cover vaccines recommended by the state.
Officials said the steps were taken in response to moves by officials acting under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump.
“In Massachusetts, we will not let Donald Trump or Robert Kennedy get in the way of patients and the care and the treatments and the medication that they want and need,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, told a briefing on Thursday.
In Colorado, acting at the direction of Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, officials issued orders that enable pharmacists to administer COVID-19 vaccines to people aged 6 months and older without prescriptions.
“I’m taking action to ensure that Coloradans who want to can easily and conveniently get the safe and effective updated COVID vaccine, along with the flu vaccine, this Fall without having to go to a doctor first,” Polis said in a statement on Wednesday.
