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COVID-19 vaccination guidance for employees and other health plan participants is now a lot less straightforward.
CVS and Walgreens have recently published complicated lists explaining who can get COVID vaccines where, and how.
According to CVS, as of now, its pharmacies cannot offer COVID vaccines at all in Massachusetts, Nevada or New Mexico. Meanwhile, patients who want COVID shots need to bring in prescriptions in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
CVS pharmacists believe they have the necessary state and federal approvals to provide COVID vaccination shots in other states without prescriptions.
Walgreens told The New York Times that it believes it needs prescriptions for its pharmacies to offer COVID vaccination shots in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington state, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
These assessments from CVS and Walgreens come in response to news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has severely tightened up access rules for COVID vaccinations for people under 65, often requiring prescriptions in order to get vaccinated.
FDA officials argued that they are eliminating extra flexibility provided during the COVID emergency and now bringing U.S. rules into alignment with the stricter rules in place in many other countries.
However, critics have accused the officials of acting based on hostility toward vaccines.
Some states have rules that let pharmacists provide COVID vaccinations even after the FDA has changed its vaccine approvals, but CVS and Walgreens have concerns about the rules that apply in other states..
The backdrop: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, sets U.S. federal vaccination recommendations with help from two HHS agencies, the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
In June, Kennedy replaced all ACIP members. Critics say many of the new members are known for being opponents of vaccination.
Kennedy also fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, who has said Kennedy objects to her opposition to what are expected to be major changes to U.S. vaccination rules and programs.
ACIP is scheduled to meet Sept. 18 to discuss federal vaccination policy; however, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, says ACIP should postpone the meeting, noting that if ACIP does make major changes, the changes would lack legitimacy.
Related: Senate chair demands halt to HHS vaccine policy changes, citing 'turmoil' at CDC
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