IDPH Says Federal Government "Casting Doubt" on Vaccines
A doctor administers a vaccine to a baby.
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While the federal government has continued to throw wrenches in conventional guidance over vaccines for adults and kids, the State of Illinois is stepping in with its own vaccine guidance.
The guidance recommends a flu vaccine for all people age six months or older. It also includes a recommendation for COVID-19 vaccines for children six months to 23 months old and two through 17, who have underlying risk factors. It also recommends the COVID-19 vaccine for all adults 18 and older.
In addition, Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra issued a “standing order” under the IDPH’s Powers and Duties Law that allows people to skip a doctor’s visit, as laid out in federal guidelines, and get the COVID-19 vaccine in clinics or pharmacies.
Vohra told me on the radio yesterday the state developed the guidelines with experts separate from the federal process.
“Part of what came through some of the uncertainty coming from the federal government and that CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was no real recommendation the way that we’re used to,” he said. “What we felt was important for us to have that kind of credible, transparent process, have our immunization advisory committee, some of the nation’s leading experts on things like infectious disease, family medicine, pediatrics, adult medicine, public health come up with those recommendations.”
Vohra says he also expects Affordable Care Act and state-regulated health care plans will continue to cover flue and COVID-19 shots. He said most private insurance companies have indicated they will also continue to cover the cost of these vaccines.
Vohra said he’s concerned about comments made this week by President Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. casting doubt on the childhood vaccine schedule, including the Hepatitis B vaccine.
“What is coming from the federal government is really putting doubt and skepticism on routine immunizations that have been proven to be safe and effective,” he said. “We are very fortunate to live in a place where we are not worried about things like polio. Even throughout career as a pediatrician, things like measles were rare exceptions, not things that you saw all the time. Those are things that have been benefited by vaccines. And all of a sudden there is doubt being put forward by the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
Vohra said it’s possible the state advisory panel may have to come back and issue similar guidance if the federal government begins to make major changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.
