“No matter what happens with [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] and the federal government, we are going to make sure vaccines remain available in Massachusetts,” Healey said in a statement Wednesday. “We are working to ensure that all pharmacies make the vaccine available as soon as possible.”
Healey has also touted the state as a leader in an effort to create a regional public health collaboration with other Northeast states, including every New England state except New Hampshire, that would rely on medical societies rather than the CDC for guidance in establishing vaccination policies. On Wednesday, California, Washington, and Oregon announced the creation of a similar “health alliance” to shape immunization policies for those three states.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of vaccine skepticism and peddling false information, has upended the CDC since entering office and has pushed policies that are at odds with scientific evidence.
Among them:
- Firing all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, an independent board that advises the CDC on vaccine policy, and replacing them with less qualified people, many of whom share his anti-vaccine or vaccine skeptical ideology.
- Removing children and pregnant women from the CDC’s immunization schedule for COVID. An independent review this month found young unvaccinated children are vulnerable to serious illness from COVID, and newborns can inherit meaningful immune protections from mothers who get COVID shots while carrying babies.
- Canceling $500 million in federal funding to research new mRNA vaccines and treatments. MRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna saved millions of lives during the pandemic.
- Recommending thimerosal, a preservative, be removed from all vaccines. The CDC’s own web site states thimerosal, used in some flu vaccine, is not harmful.
Last week, he fired the CDC’s director for refusing to fire top officials or rubber stamp decisions from his hand-picked advisory committee. Three high-level CDC officials resigned in protest, warning that Kennedy had compromised the agency’s credibility. They warned that Kennedy appeared poised to move beyond COVID vaccines to restrict access to immunizations more widely. Wednesday, more than 1,000 current and former CDC staffers urged Kennedy to resign over his vaccination policies.
Meanwhile, the United States experienced its worst measles outbreak in three decades this year, almost entirely driven by infections in people who are not vaccinated.
Wendy Parmet, a law professor at Northeastern University who specializes in public health, welcomed the standing order. Until the state issued it, she said, Massachusetts – despite its reputation for being at the vanguard in public health – was making it hard if not impossible for people to get the new booster approved by the FDA.
As she herself found out when she tried to get the booster the past few days, she said, primary care doctors have largely shunted responsibility for administering COVID shots to pharmacies, because physicians are swamped with patients seeking other care. But the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy forbids pharmacists from administering COVID shots without the authorization of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel.
“If you can’t get it at a pharmacy and you can’t get it at a doctor’s office, you can’t get it,” said Parmet, who was eligible for the shot because she is over the age of 65.
Not only did the state say that pharmacists could now administer the booster shots without the CDC panel’s authorization, Parmet noted, the Healey administration broadened the group of people who could receive it. .
“What they’re trying to do is increase accessibility beyond what the FDA envisioned or suggested,” she said. “This looks like it’s going to address the problem and reassert our leadership in public health.”
The governor’s standing order authorized pharmacists to administer two Moderna booster vaccines: mNEXSPIKE for people 12 and older and Spikevax for people 5 and older. It also authorized Pfizer’s Comirnaty for people five and older and Novavax’s Nuvaxoid for people 12 and older.
Children younger than 5 typically receive vaccines at their pediatrician’s offices.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
Jason Laughlin can be reached at jason.laughlin@globe.com. Follow him @jasmlaughlin. Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jonathan.saltzman@globe.com.
