Wary of RFK Jr., Colorado started revamping its vaccine policies last spring : Shots

Jill Holm-Denoma holds his son, Tyler, after receiving a boost cocoked in 2021 from nurse Emily Cole to National Jewish Health in Denver. After President Trump appointed the anti-vaccin activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. To be a secretary of health and social services, Colorado has updated the laws of the States to ensure continuous access to the covid shooting and other vaccines.

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David Zalubowski / AP

While the Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy, the dismantling of the federal federal vaccine policy continues to hike in the centers for Disease Control and Prevention, certain states led by Democrats have been put by themselves, creating new systems to help them assess science and maintain access to vaccination for their residents.

Four western states – California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington – create a collaboration aimed at preserving access to vaccines. Several northeast states are considering a similar alliance.

The Governor of New York said an “emergency in the event of a disaster on a state scale” and has issued a prescription which allows pharmacists to give the vaccine coded without prescription. Minnesota has made a similar change, and the Massachusetts requires that insurance companies pay the vaccines recommended by its health service, not just those recommended by the CDC.

Changes represent a huge change in the public health authority of the Federal Government to the States. Traditionally, states have turned to CDC for expertise and advice on public health issues – not just vaccines, but problems such as work safety, water fluoritation, vaping and sexually transmitted diseases.

From now on, with regard to the Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy, undermines confidence in vaccines and public health sciences, certain states track new paths, seeking new sources of scientific consensus and changes the way in which they regulate insurance companies, prescribers and pharmacists.

Colorado was at the forefront of this wave. On September 3, state officials issued a permanent order to allow pharmacists to provide cocvid photos without individual prescriptions.

“I will not allow administrative formalities or ridiculous and costly decisions taken far from Washington to prevent coloradans from accessing vaccines,” said Governor Jared Polis.

Search for non -federal sources of scientific consensus

But the leadership of Colorado had already paved the way for greater autonomy on vaccine policy for months.

In April, the state’s legislature modified a law, allowing the State to examine scientific sources other than the federal government, when setting the requirements of school vaccines.

“You could see the writing on the wall which it became too politicized rather than counting on real science with this new director of HHS,” said the senator of the Kyle Mullica State, referring to the role of Kennedy leading the Ministry of Health and Social Services (HHS).

Mullica, who has co -picked the new law, is a democrat and works as a nurse of the emergency service in Denver.

Colorado would be the first state to make this movement. In addition to turning to the CDC to obtain advice on vaccines, the State Health Board can now also consult the main medical groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

“We have decided to protect Colorado,” said Mullica, so it “would not be as vulnerable to political upheavals that we see at the moment”.

Colorado Dems also try to consolidate insurance coverage

The legislature led by the Democrats adopted the bill during an online party vote. Governor Polis signed it, despite the appointment of RFK Jr. before to RFK Jr.

“The Colorado, I think, really opens the way on this subject,” said Dr. David Higgins, a pediatrician at the University of Colorado who was part of a group of stakeholders who helped develop the bill.

Higgins underlined a company bill, adopted in May, which said that the Pusé du Colorado is even stronger. It deals with insurance coverage for preventive health care services and aims to ensure that state -regulated insurance schemes cover the cost of certain vaccines, regardless of CDC’s future measures.

“Indeed, this aims to make sure that colorados will always have access to vaccines,” he said.

The chapter of the Colorado of the Defense of Children’s Health, the anti-Vaccin defense group that Kennedy led before resuming the HHS, did not respond to a comment request.

Another co-sponsor of the bill, the representative of the democratic state, Lindsay Gilchrist, said that there were so many false information circulating on vaccines, including for COVID-19, that it is important to hear a range of trusted medical experts.

Colorado had previously followed the CDC for scientific advice on vaccines, especially for children entering school. Like other states, he had followed the recommendations of a CDC panel known as the Consultative Committee for Vaccination Practices (ACIP).

Earlier this year, Kennedy dismissed the 17 members and replaced them by eight members that criticism warns skeptics of vaccines and do not have the qualifications to provide critical advice to the Americans.

“I think where confusion will be the difference in the recommendations between the AIPI, to whom we are traditionally recovering, then to everyone,” said Dr. Ned Calonge, chief doctor of Colorado.

It expects the groups of national professional doctors that Colorado are now empowered to consult are probably aligned in their overall advice, and “will examine the latest recommendations based on evidence that was provided by the AIPI” before Kennedy replaces its members.

In May, Kennedy announced that the federal government had withdrawn the COVVI-19 vaccines from the list of recommended shots for healthy women and pregnant children.

But Colorado still recommends a COVVI-19 vaccine during pregnancy, said a schoolgirl.

“There was no new proof of security issues in this population,” said Calonge. “So we tell the suppliers that our recommendation is to continue to follow the recommendation as it was implemented in January 2025.”

In a statement on his website, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) strongly recommended that pregnant people will be vaccinated against COVVI-19. “ACOG continues to recommend that all pregnant and lactating people receive a COVVI-19 or” Booster “vaccine updated.

Likewise, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in August all young children aged six to 23 months are vaccinated against Covid, as well as older children in certain risk groups. The current pediatric recommendation of Colorado is aligned closely with this.

For the moment, Colorado follows the same vaccination recommendations it used last year, following the ACIP Calendar published last November as part of the Biden administration.

The next APIP meeting is set for September 18 and could result in additional changes in the vaccine recommendations.

Doctors and vaccine scientists expressed the alarm in the face of the national consensus on vaccines.

“There will now be much more confusion and distrust of vaccines among the public,” said Dr. Allison Kempe, professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado, Anschutz, who sat at the ACIP from 2013 to 2018.

However, she said she was happy that Colorado is actively launching with her own recommendations.

This story comes from the NPR health report partnership with Colorado public radio And Kff Health News.