As CDC moves to restrict COVID vax, Hobbs expands Arizona access to shot

The Arizona Department of Health Services issued a standing order Friday allowing pharmacists and other healthcare workers to administer a COVID-19 vaccine to any Arizonan older than six months, even if they don’t have a prescription.

The move comes roughly one week after Gov. Katie Hobbs issued a Sept. 11 executive order directing ADHS to make the vaccine “broadly accessible.”

“We are securing Arizonans’ health care freedom,” said Hobbs in a press release Friday. “The health and safety of Arizonans are my top priority. That’s why I took action to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines and give Arizonans who want one the ability to get one. I applaud the Department of Health Services for working quickly to ensure broad access to the COVID vaccine and for continuing their efforts to educate Arizona about the public health benefits of vaccines.”

The standing order was signed by Dr. Richard Carmona, a Tucsonan who served as the 17th surgeon general in George W. Bush’s administration and later ran for the U.S Senate as a Democrat in 2012.

As an advisor to the state Health Department during former Gov. Doug Ducey’s second term, Carmona encouraged Arizonans to get vaccinated against COVID.

“Vaccines are one of the most important tools we have to protect our communities,” Carmona said in a prepared statement Friday. “The COVID-19 vaccine has proven to be safe and effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death. Vaccines help us limit the spread of disease and reduce pressure on our healthcare system.”

ADHS officials warn the standing order does not guarantee that all pharmacies will provide the COVID shot, which has been updated to best combat recent strains of the novel coronavirus, or that all insurance companies will cover the cost.

The need for a prescription for the vaccine came after the Food and Drug Administration, now under the control of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., issued a new recommendation on Aug. 27 restricting the shot to adults 65 and older and those who have an underlying health condition.

Kennedy is a longtime booster of conspiracist rumors about vaccines.

Several major medical organizations, including American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Academy of Family Physicians, California Medical Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America and American College of Physicians, have criticized the FDA’s changes as not being based in science.

The FDA recommendation created confusion and barriers for some Tucsonans who sought to be vaccinated last week.

More changes to vaccine policy are on the way. Earlier on Friday, an influential federal panel, the Advisory Council on Immunization Practices, recommended that anyone wishing to get a vaccine consult with a doctor or health worker although they stopped short of recommending that anyone who wishes to be vaccinated get a prescription.

In June, Kennedy fired all ACIP members and appointed new members to the committee, many of whom share Kennedy’s views on vaccines.

The recommendation will become CDC policy if it accepted by CDC Acting Director Jim O’Neill, the acting head of the CDC.

In an HHS press release, O’Neill hailed ACIP members for “bringing overdue scientific debate on vaccinations to the American people.”

O’Neill is a technology investor who does not have a medical background. He was appointed to the job of CDC’s acting director by President Donald Trump after Trump followed Kennedy’s request to fire Dr. Susan Monarez, who was confirmed as CDC head by the U.S. Senate on July 29.

Earlier this week, Monarez gave Senate testimony that she was fired from the job because she told Kennedy she would not rubber stamp ACIP vaccine recommendations.

Kennedy had previously said in Senate testimony that he fired Monarez because she told him she was not “trustworthy.”