In a break with the Trump administration, Vermont health officials on Thursday said pharmacies may provide COVID-19 vaccines to anyone who wants one.
The order from the Vermont Department of Health brings clarity around access to the immunizations at a time when the federal government is moving to limit their use.
“COVID-19 vaccines are available to all who want and need them,” interim Health Commissioner Julie Arel said in a press release.
Confusion around vaccine eligibility has loomed since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month approved the latest versions of COVID-19 shots but with limits to people who are 65 years and older or have an elevated risk for becoming seriously ill. The list of qualifying health conditions is fairly broad, but it has added complexity and some inconsistency around access to the shot at pharmacies around the country, including Vermont.
Gov. Phil Scott said in the press release that the state’s new standing order — essentially a prescription — was a “necessary step to make sure those who want a vaccine, can get one.”
An influential advisory panel at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to meet on Thursday and Friday and may further limit who the federal government says should receive COVID-19 shots. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, replaced all 17 members of the panel in recent weeks. Many of his handpicked additions have previously voiced extreme suspicion of certain vaccines. The moves sparked outrage from some scientists and mainstream health officials.
Ahead of the federal panel’s meeting, some Democrat-controlled states, including blocks on the West Coast and the Northeast, have broken with the feds to establish their own regional recommendations. The recently formed Northeast Public Health Collaborative issued a set of COVID-19 immunization guidelines on Thursday that encourages more widespread use of the vaccines. The collaborative’s members include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York State, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York City, according to a press release from the city’s health department.
Vermont, meanwhile, published its own set of COVID-19 vaccine recommendations on Thursday. Its guidelines are similar but not identical to those of the regional collaborative.
A state health advisory sent directly to medical providers recommends that virtually everyone receive a vaccine or booster shot. The guidelines place special emphasis on pregnant people; those at higher risk of exposure; and those at risk of serious illness or who live with a medically vulnerable person. Children between 6 months and 2 years old are also specially encouraged to get vaccinated, according to the state.
The regional recommendations, meanwhile, state that healthy children between the ages of 2 and 18 “may” be vaccinated.
Both the state and regional recommendations said they were based on guidance from professional medical associations.
Unlike most of its neighboring states, Vermont did not announce its new recommendations publicly. A press release about the standing order for pharmacies was issued by the governor’s office, not the Vermont Department of Health, and made no mention of the accompanying immunization recommendations. The state guidelines were instead posted to the Vermont Department of Health website and sent to medical providers in a health advisory.
Arel, the interim health commissioner, did not explain why the state guidelines were not promoted more visibly.
“That’s just the nature of sometimes how press releases are developed and released,” she said.
She also downplayed the state’s omission from the regional guidelines, even as she acknowledged that a joint message on vaccines can “make things a little less confusing for people.”
“We were so focused on getting everything lined up and ready to go for our announcement about our recommendations and the standing order, we just — we weren’t able to be a part of that [Northeast Public Health Collaborative] press release,” she said. “Our attention was elsewhere.”
The only other Northeast state not named as a member of the collaborative was New Hampshire, the other state with a Republican governor. Asked whether Vermont officials chose not to associate with the regional collaborative in an effort to avoid federal scrutiny, Arel noted that officials have previously publicly acknowledged working with the group.
“We’ll continue to engage in working with our partners across the region,” she said.
Pharmacies in Vermont may provide vaccines to anyone ages 5 years and older. Major insurers have told state officials that they intend to cover this year’s COVID-19 immunizations at no charge to recipients, Arel said.
Children younger than 5 are generally immunized at their doctor’s offices. State officials are waiting for the federal government to supply vaccine doses to those providers.