With the Trump administration making changes to its guidance on vaccines nationwide, the direction in New England is uncertain.
The region is taking steps toward independence from the federal government on vaccine policy months after several changes under U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Health officials from Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania met this week to consider coordinating their own vaccine recommendations, separate from the federal government.
NBC10 Boston
NBC10 Boston The states involved in the discussions about regional vaccine policy
The potential regional collaboration comes as health officials question whether Kennedy will make recommendations based on credible science.
“It’s really important that Massachusetts take immunization policy into its own hands, in part because we simply can’t trust the recommendations coming from the federal government anymore,” said Boston University School of Public History Professor Matt Motta.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine critic, announced in May that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children or pregnant women. In June, he fired members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, appointing new members who have also expressed skepticism about vaccines. This month, he pulled $500 million in federal funding for mRNA vaccine research projects.
“When the next pandemic comes, we won’t be ready if we’ve discarded a really strong new technology,” Professor Ann Sheehy, an immunologist and virologist at the College of the Holy Cross, said of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s move.
Questions remain whether insurance providers will fully cover vaccines if not suggested by the CDC.
“If you are someone on Medicare or Medicaid, this could be a time of great uncertainty, because normally, we would expect those programs to make their coverage decisions based on what the federal government is doing, not the state government,” said Motta.
“If federal and state government disagree about which vaccines should be covered under Medicaid and be paid for by Medicaid, that fight is more than likely to end up in court, and probably won’t be resolved for one or two or more years,” said Boston University School of Public History Professor Alan Sager.
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