Vaccines are among the most effective public health measures we have. It is estimated over 150 million lives have been saved over the last 50 years by vaccines. Pennsylvanians commonly use pharmacies to receive recommended vaccines.  

 

The statutory basis for pharmacists administering vaccines comes from our state laws delineating pharmacists’ practice authority. In our current laws, much of that authority relies upon recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the Food and Drug Administration. 

 

However, recent actions at the federal level have compromised the reliability of those institutions. In response, Pennsylvania’s State Board of Pharmacy voted to blunt the impact of those actions. And while this is a commendable reaction, more must be done at the state level to insulate Pennsylvanians from ideologically driven shifts in federal public health policy—especially where those shifts are aimed at vaccines. 

 

It is important to acknowledge that a state-by-state approach is not ideal, but the destabilization of public health institutions at the federal level not only warrants but requires the states to take protective measures.  

 

We recently introduced SB 989 as a Senate companion to House efforts requiring insurance companies to cover vaccines as recommended by Pennsylvania health authorities and with the input of professional medical societies. Similarly, we will introduce the Senate companion to legislation introduced in the House by Representatives Venkat, Khan, Kosierowski, and O’Mara that will ensure pharmacists’ practice authority on vaccine administration can derive from previously approved recommendations, federal public health recommendations, or state health authorities’ recommendations that may be informed by professional medical or pharmacists societies.  

 

Please join us in protecting Pennsylvanians’ access to the life-saving public health intervention of vaccines.