Travis Rose planned for more than a month to get her family vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu before their September trip to Disney World.
Less than 24 hours before their Aug. 28 appointment, it was canceled without an explanation.
“No notice, just canceled,” Rose told WRAL News.
Rose said she wanted the vaccines specifically to protect her son, Aiden. The 17-year-old has autism, which the FDA considers a high-risk condition for COVID-19.
“He smells everything, and he’s constantly wanting to touch. He is very sensory-seeking, and he loves to touch his face,” she explained.
She continued, “We are going to Disney World. We’re talking about the belly of the beast as far as germs are concerned. It’s this fine line between not wanting to hide but wanting to still have quality of life and live life. Vaccines have given us the ability to do that.”
COVID-19 infections in the Orlando area went from 400 cases on July 4, to more than 1,000 cases reported every week for the last three weeks of August, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Travis Rose said her husband, Joshua Rose, went to a military clinic in Fayetteville to ask how to get vaccinated.
He was told that North Carolina law required a doctor’s note for the family to get their vaccines if they want them before before the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP) releases updated guidance. That isn’t expected to happen until the committee’s upcoming meeting on Sept. 18.
North Carolina is one of a handful of states with laws barring pharmacists from administering COVID-19 vaccines until the ACIP releases its recommendations, unless someone age 18 and up has a prescription written by their doctor
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Rose told WRAL News that she and her husband were able to get their shots with their prescriptions. The parents were told that Aiden Rose could still be vaccinated by a private doctor, but the family then ran into another issue when no private practice near them had the doses in stock.
“In Fayetteville right now, Womack Army Medical Center did not have them, the hospitals and urgent cares did not have them, our clinic doesn’t have them. The only people that have them can’t give them, because it’s a pharmacy thing,” Travis Rose said.
The family spoke to WRAL News on Thursday — during their drive to Florida — to express their frustration.
“I did everything I was supposed to do, and we still weren’t able to protect him,” Rose said. “I don’t want my child to die. I don’t want my child to be at risk.”
The mother said she had this message to those responsible for the red tape her family was caught in. “This isn’t about politics, this is about allowing parents to protect their children,” she said. “Don’t take the tools away from us that allow us to protect our kids.”
After the ACIP releases its recommendations for 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccines, the CDC director still needs to sign off for final approval.
Typically, the ACIP meets soon after the FDA issues its vaccine approvals. The ACIP was dissolved this summer when it typically would provide fall immunization recommendations. The panel was not reconstituted until August.
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