MADISON – Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order Monday aimed at protecting access to vaccines after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued new limits on who could get a COVID-19 shot.
The order directs state officials overseeing health and insurance policies to work together to “ensure vaccine access for Wisconsinites to the fullest extent of the law and available funding.”
It also requires the state’s chief medical officers to issue their own orders and guidance on COVID-19 vaccine “to dispel the existing confusion and uncertainty prompted by recent federal actions.”
Evers’ order is the latest in a series of actions by other Democratic governors to push back against the approach of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department toward COVID-19 vaccines.
“RFK and the Trump Administration are inserting partisan politics into healthcare and the science-based decisions of medical professionals and are putting the health and lives of kids, families, and folks across our state at risk in the process,” Evers said in a statement Sept. 15.
“Here in Wisconsin, we will continue to follow the science to ensure Wisconsinites have access to the healthcare they need when and where they need it to make their own healthcare decisions that are right for them.”
Aides to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu did not immediately respond to Evers’ order.
Updated COVID-19 vaccines were made available at pharmacies across Wisconsin in recent weeks as new restrictions imposed by federal officials on who is eligible for the shots may make it harder for some Wisconsinites to get them.
Similar to the flu vaccine, the COVID-19 vaccines are updated annually to provide better protection against the strains of the virus circulating during each year’s respiratory virus season.
In prior years, the COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for everyone 6 months and older.
Then, in late August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved this year’s COVID-19 vaccines for a smaller group of people: adults 65 and older, and younger people with certain medical conditions that put them at high risk for severe illness.
The new limitations come as Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, continues to overhaul the federal government’s approach to vaccines.
In May, Kennedy dropped COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women. In June, he removed all 17 members of the advisory panel that offers guidance on vaccine use in the U.S., replacing some of them with vaccine skeptics.
That panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, still has not issued recommendations for who should receive the latest COVID-19 vaccine, a decision that could affect how and whether health insurers will cover the shots.
Evers’ new order directs state Commissioner of Insurance Nathan Houdek to “collaborate with health plans on ways to ensure their insureds are informed with accurate, up-to-date information regarding their access to vaccines and limiting the costs of vaccines” and to direct all insurers under the state’s regulatory authority to provide coverage for COVID-19 vaccines without cost-sharing to their insured members.
Wisconsin joins 14 other states, including Minnesota and Illinois, in creating a vaccine protocol that does not defer solely to federal health officials.
California, along with Oregon and Washington, announced the formation of the West Coast Health Alliance on Sept. 3 to “provide evidence-based unified recommendations” on who should receive immunizations.
Colorado public health officials also issued an order earlier this month that essentially functions as a prescription, allowing pharmacists to provide COVID-19 vaccines to those 6 months or older without individual prescriptions.
In Pennsylvania, a state regulatory board overseeing pharmacists voted to allow pharmacists to administer COVID-19 vaccines based on recommendations of well-known medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American Academy of Pediatrics, among others, instead of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Kennedy and his allies argue the public can still receive the COVID inoculation if desired, but they skirt over issues of convenience, insurance coverage and cost, USA TODAY reported. Health insurance companies had been covering the cost of shots recommended by the CDC, and it’s not clear what they’ll pay for now that the eligibility is more restrictive.
“The (FDA) decision does not affect access to these vaccines,’’ HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an e-mail to USA TODAY. “These vaccines remain available to those who choose them in consultation with their health care provider.’’
Sarah Volpenhein of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gov. Tony Evers directs Wisconsin health officials to issue their own COVID-19 vaccine guidance
Reporting by Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
