Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on Friday granting sweeping access to COVID vaccines across New York — in a political jab at Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was grilled this week over federal immunization policy.
The move will “ensure that all eligible New Yorkers — including children, pregnant people, and healthy adults under 65 — can continue to receive COVID vaccinations at their local pharmacy without delay,” Hochul’s office said in a statement.
The Democratic governor framed the action as a fight against the “Trump Administration’s misguided attack on immunization and healthcare.”
“With the availability of COVID shots under imminent threat, the Governor today signed an Executive Order that will allow pharmacists to administer COVID vaccines, providing access for all New Yorkers who wish to be vaccinated,” Hochul’s office said.
“In the face of attacks on science and healthcare from the federal government, Governor Kathy Hochul today is taking steps to protect vaccine access across New York State,” the statement said.
The HHS secretary announced in May that COVID-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women.
Amid the uncertainty over the HHS guidelines, some pharmacies have said that access to vaccines may be restricted, requiring a prescription, or vary by state.
Hochul’s executive order will be in place for at least 30 days while a “long-term legislative solution is developed to address access to all vaccines.”
It will give pharmacists the power to prescribe and administer COVID booster shots, including to children as young as three.
“I promised New Yorkers that their family would be my fight. In the absence of federal leadership, we must do everything we can to ensure that New Yorkers have access to the vaccines and preventative healthcare they have come to rely on,” Hochul said in a statement.
“By signing this executive order, we are sending a clear message that when Washington Republicans play politics with public health, New Yorkers can still get the care they need, close to home, from trusted providers in their own communities,” she said.
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald will also be issuing a standing order for the COVID vaccine, ensuring that pharmacists statewide can provide timely access to the shot.
In the coming days, McDonald and the state Health Department will issue more detailed guidance for pharmacies, clinicians and other vaccine administrators.
During a tense, nearly three-hour hearing before the bipartisan Senate Finance Committee Thursday, lawmakers skewered Kennedy over access issues surrounding the updated COVID vaccine rules, as well as his staffing purge at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Currently, the US Food and Drug Administration has green-lit the updated shot only for older and high-risk Americans, and the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel won’t meet until Sept. 18 to develop broader guidance.
In one headline-grabbing exchange, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) dramatically accused Kennedy during Thursday’s hearing of refusing COVID vaccines to Americans who need them.
Kennedy insisted that anyone can get a COVID vaccine for free at a pharmacy, but admitted that some were being selective due to murky federal regulations, ABC News reported.
Kennedy also claimed that he removed politics from decisions about the federal vaccine schedule by booting all 17 members of the ACIP.
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