After CDC vaccine changes, states push to keep childhood shots free, accessible

As the Trump administration reviews recommendations for childhood vaccines, a growing number of states are moving quickly to ensure vaccines remain free and health care workers are protected from lawsuits.

“States are stepping up to proactively protect their communities,” said Dr. David Higgins, a practicing pediatrician in Aurora, Colo., and vice president of the Colorado chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Colorado is one of at least six states — along with Alaska, California, Illinois, Maryland and Vermont — that have introduced vaccine-related bills in recent months, in an unprecedented break from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which overhauled the childhood immunization schedule in early January.

Colorado Senate Bill 32 stands as the most comprehensive proposal.

It would expand malpractice liability protections for health care providers — including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, clinics, hospitals and insurance companies — related to childhood vaccines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the leading group of pediatricians, as well as the CDC’s Vaccine Advisory Committee.

This protection is important because lawsuits can be used by anti-vaccine groups as a tactic to dissuade health workers, public programs or clinics from giving vaccines to children, lawmakers say.

“We’re not going above and beyond; we’re just trying to preserve the environment in which health care operates in the United States,” said Colorado Democratic state Sen. Kyle Mullica, an emergency room nurse who introduced the legislation. “It doesn’t protect someone if they step out of line and do something wrong. It just tries to prevent the weaponization of vaccine-related lawsuits.”

So far, 28 states have broken to varying degrees with the CDC’s new childhood vaccine recommendations, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health care research group. Changes from federal guidelines range from legislation that would ensure vaccines remain free and protect health care workers from lawsuits, to reliance on AAP guidelines.

The CDC guideline change abandoned recommendations that all babies should be protected against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, RSV, dengue fever and two types of bacterial meningitis. Almost immediately, the AAP and at least 12 other major medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association, reiterated their recommendations for vaccinating children against 18 diseases.

So far, most states have defaulted to federal guidelines and liability protections for vaccines. Some states also have contracts that allow them to purchase vaccines from the CDC at the cheapest price available.

“States that do not take proactive steps to clarify these issues are going to have their vaccine distribution systems disrupted, whether for legal reasons, liability reasons, or simply confusion,” Higgins warned.

Under Kennedy’s leadership, the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee took steps to undermine support for childhood vaccinations. Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, has repeatedly and falsely linked vaccines to autism and abruptly fired all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, replacing them with several vaccine critics. Shortly after, the committee reduced the number of vaccines recommended for all children.

As Kennedy draws public attention to the “Eat Real Food” campaign to discourage ultra-processed foods and promote revised dietary guidelines, it fell to Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to voice support for vaccines. On CNN in early February, as the largest measles outbreak in decades intensified in South Carolina, Oz urged people to “please get vaccinated.”

Compulsory vaccinations for school

States determine vaccine requirements for schoolchildren. They allow families to opt out of vaccinations for medical reasons and many allow religious vaccine exemptions for children attending public school. Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Law, said states have previously deviated from the CDC’s vaccination schedule, but “this is the first time states have completely deviated from federal guidelines.”

Higgins fears that without clear, science-based guidance from federal health agencies, “vaccine policy will fracture.”

For example, Colorado’s new bill would provide liability protection for vaccine providers, allow pharmacists to prescribe and administer vaccines, and require the state’s insurance companies to cover the HPV vaccine. It would also allow providers to benefit from state immunization program funding, to cover any vaccine-related costs that are not subsidized by federal immunization program funding.

The bill would also allow health officials to follow vaccine guidelines from the AAP, the American Academy of Family Physicians, ACOG and the American College of Physicians, in addition to the CDC. The bill was approved by the Senate in early February.

It “aims to preserve access to science-based vaccines for Coloradans who want them,” Higgins said.

The bill is now in the Colorado House. If passed, the law would take effect in August.