Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
By a slim margin, the Democratic-led state House on Wednesday passed legislation to protect access to vaccines in Pennsylvania. The measure, H.B. 1828, would require private insurers to cover vaccines that have been recommended by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The bill passed in a 104-99 vote. Democrats have 102 seats, a single-vote majority. Both Gov. Josh Shapiro and state health officials have given the commonwealth the authority to seek immunization advice from professional medical societies and not just federal health agencies. The legislative action by the House comes as the Trump administration has upended long-established guidance on immunizations, including those intended for children. Rep. Arvind Venkat, an Allegheny County Democrat who is a physician and co-sponsor of the bill, said the legislation is needed to ensure that critical immunization protections remain available to Pennsylvanians after recent developments from the federal government. “As a physician, I know how powerful vaccines at all stages of life can be for preventing or mitigating disease,” he said. “If (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) stops recommending certain FDA-approved vaccines, insurers will no longer have to cover them, and critical immunizations that protect children and vulnerable Pennsylvanians from deadly diseases could disappear. As ACIP calls into question the scheduling of vaccines for the flu, measles, mumps, rubella, and chicken pox, we need to act before it is too late.” The Trump administration earlier this year fired all members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee. With Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at the helm of the nation’s health infrastructure, the administration replaced many of the committee’s members with anti-vaccine activists. “We have also seen the firing and resignation of the entire leadership of the CDC due to their unwillingness to support anti-vaccine policies,” Venkat said. “This is a major issue we are already seeing the consequences of with the recent measles outbreak across the country and the non-evidence-based restrictions on access to COVID immunizations, which will set public health back by decades if we do not act.” The Trump administration in August limited those who could receive the COVID vaccine and required prescriptions which led major pharmacies to halt vaccinations. The Pennsylvania State Board of Pharmacy responded by voting to allow pharmacists to follow guidance from four major medical medical organizations and the FDA. Last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) reversed its long-standing recommendations on measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine for children under 4. In response, the Pennsylvania Department of Health expanded its list of trusted authorities and issued new vaccine guidance. At the same time the state Insurance Department secured commitments from insurers to cover the vaccines until at least 2026. Shapiro this month signed an executive order aimed at protecting access to recommended childhood and adult vaccines, maintaining insurance coverage and aligning state health policies with the guidance of respected experts. The professional medical organizations included in the state’s official directives on vaccines include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Two other sponsors of the bill, both nurses, noted the importance of relying on science and vaccines. “I am glad to see my colleagues in the House support the authority of scientific knowledge and the veracity of decades of proven research in vaccine science by passing this bill,” said Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, D-Lackawanna County. “As a nurse for nearly thirty years, I am deeply concerned that our overburdened health care system will be overwhelmed by the surge of cases of serious, long-term illnesses should they occur if people no longer have access to proven and trusted life-saving scheduled vaccines. This bill would serve as a guardrail protecting public health by ensuring that critical immunizations remain covered by insurance companies.” Rep. Tarik Khan, D-Philadelphia, said that as a nurse, he has seen patients who can’t get the vaccines they need develop chronic life-long diseases. “Our bill is about making sure every Pennsylvanian, including kids and older adults, can get the lifesaving vaccines they need no matter what’s happening in Washington,” Khan said. “Prevention is always better than treatment, it’s common sense.” The bill moves to the state Senate for consideration.
