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https://thehighwire.com/emergency-declaration-now-allows-pharmacists-to-vaccinate-children-ages-3-18/
EMERGENCY DECLARATION NOW ALLOWS PHARMACISTS TO VACCINATE CHILDREN AGES 3-18
By Wayne Rohde
While our nation was busy spending a considerable amount of time discussing racial inequalities (as we should) or whether or not public schools and colleges were going to open or start on-line, or debating the upcoming national political conventions, our federal government, specifically, The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued his 3rd amendment to The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP). The Act was first enacted this year by a declaration from the Secretary of HHS on March 10, 2020.
The 3rd amendment on August 24th, allowing pharmacists to administer vaccines to children ages 3-18. Many states had previously established restrictions on who could administer childhood vaccinations.
I must admit that this announcement slipped past me last week. I was alerted to it when talking with a parent advocate one evening. I could not believe it and thought it must be just for a specific state. Later, I searched the internet to find a few articles dated August 19th, 20th and 21st. The Federal Register listed the action on Monday, August 24, 2020.
I remember my dad who was a pharmacist in North Dakota. In the ‘60s and 70’s he mastered the art of compounding pharmacy. He was so busy preparing prescriptions for his customers, trying to interpret correctly the doctor’s handwriting. Very proud of his profession. Yet I doubt that he would enjoy today’s modern pharmacy. I would think that he would say vaccinations are for doctors, not for pharmacists.
This action by the Secretary of HHS allows certain licensed pharmacists who order and administer, and pharmacy interns (who are acting under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist) who administer, any vaccine that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends to persons ages 3 through 18. This amendment was prompted by a report from the CDC in which it found a significant decrease in rates of routine childhood vaccinations.
Now with the federal announcement of this declaration, how will this play out in the states. How much weight does this declaration have regarding state law which traditionally regulates the activities of state licensed pharmacists? So the question now to be answered, does this declaration by the Secretary of HHS supersede state law?
Last couple of years there were many legislation introduced that did not go anywhere in state legislatures around the country. Is this declaration a product of those failures?
Or is this a flare shot high in the air to signal to state health departments to use their rule making authority to modify statutes to allow pharmacies to enter the childhood vaccination arena?
Even my home state of Minnesota passed legislation in May 2020 to allow pharmacists to administer any FDA approved COVID vaccine to children as young as 6 years of age. This is not a mandate, but rather setting up a horrible scenario for which pharmacists are clearly not trained to handle. The method of passing legislation during a Peacetime Emergency declaration by governors to circumvent public testimony is very troubling.
The PREP Act has been previously amended twice prior to this declaration.