PA Board Of Pharmacy Votes To Use Vaccine Guidelines From Non-Government Groups

By Ian Karbal | Pennsylvania Capital-Star

A COVID-19 vaccine dose prepared in Bristol Borough. Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

The State Board of Pharmacy held a special meeting on Wednesday to vote on a measure to effectively bypass the immunization recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), following concerns that federal health authorities may politicize recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination.

The Pennsylvania board is responsible for determining when and to whom pharmacists can administer vaccines. Historically, it has followed the recommendations of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of experts who issue guidance for the nation’s doctors and pharmacists.

The measure voted on by the board unanimously will allow the State Board of Pharmacy to issue guidance based on the recommendations of three medical professional societies: the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The professional organizations comprise thousands of doctors from specialized fields of medicine, and have long been involved in the study and creation of vaccination guidelines based on evidence and rigorous scientific review. Each group has recommended broad use of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Wednesday’s vote means, despite the federal vaccine advisory panel not yet issuing COVID-19 immunization guidelines, pharmacies across the state can administer the latest seasonal vaccines as soon as they obtain them. However, a spokesperson for Gov. Josh Shapiro advised Pennsylvanians who want a vaccine to first contact their pharmacy.

Grace Sesi, the executive director of regulatory affairs for CVS Health, which operates the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, spoke at the board meeting to support the measure. She said CVS pharmacies in Pennsylvania have already received the latest COVID-19 vaccines and are “ready to act with urgency” to administer them.

The board scheduled the meeting after concerns were raised by Shapiro, as well as doctors and pharmacists across the commonwealth, that the federal panel’s recommendations may be guided more by politics than science.

In June, U.S. Sec. of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime and outspoken vaccine skeptic, removed and replaced all 17 members of the vaccine advisory committee. And in May, Kennedy said that the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, citing no specific studies and potentially putting the authority’s guidelines at odds with professional associations representing thousands of pediatricians, gynecologists, family doctors and scientists across the country.

While the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has yet to issue vaccination guidelines for this year’s seasonal COVID-19 shots, it is scheduled to meet later this month. But already, the Food and Drug Administration, which approves vaccines for public use, has deviated from its typical recommendation that virtually all adults and children over six months old receive the shot. Instead, it has suggested its use only for those 65 and older, as well as for children and adults with health conditions that place them at risk of more severe infection from COVID-19.

The move signaled that immunization recommendations from federal health authorities may be at odds with mainstream scientific consensus among doctors and researchers.

ob Bonacci, a clinician, former CDC employee and special advisor to Pennsylvania’s secretary of Health, told the State Board of Pharmacy that recent changes at the federal vaccine advisory panel “have left many concerned about the integrity of the [vaccination] review process, and the trustworthiness of those recommendations.”

“We’re in new territory,” he added. “When I think about where else I go as a public health professional and a clinician for public health guidance, I think of our professional organizations.”

A spokesperson for the State Board of Pharmacy referred questions from the Capital-Star to Shapiro’s office.

Following the vote, Shapiro issued a statement applauding the board’s decision and calling efforts by the Trump administration to limit COVID-19 vaccine access “outrageous.”

“I called on the State Board of Pharmacy to hold a special meeting to bring clarity to the people of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said in the statement. “Health care decisions should be up to individuals — not the federal government and certainly not RFK Jr. My Administration will continue to protect health care access for all Pennsylvanians.”

Some lawmakers have also made moves to ensure pharmacists in Pennsylvania can administer vaccines, regardless of the recommendations of the CDC’s immunization advisory panel.

On Tuesday, Rep. Arvind Venkat (D-Allegheny), an emergency physician, issued a memo announcing his intention to introduce a bill he says will put immunization recommendations for Pennsylvanians in the hands of state health authorities instead of federal ones.

“Chaos in federal health agency policymaking, which is no longer backed by scientific evidence, but instead by anti-vaccine ideology, will cost people’s lives,” Venkat said. “This legislation will allow Pennsylvanians to avoid this politicization of healthcare and get the life-saving vaccines they need, even if the federal government stops recommending them purely due to politics.”

A previous bill introduced by Venkat would also require insurance companies to cover vaccines recommended by state health authorities and medical professional organizations.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.

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