Healey applies vaccine remedy Regulatory shift ensures eligibility, coverage of shot

The Berkshire Eagle

STOCKBRIDGE - When the Southern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative received its latest batch of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, staff were unsure who could receive the shots.

Across the country, new restrictions adopted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had left providers uncertain about eligibility for the vaccine.

But a swift policy change from Massachusetts has now cleared the way; pharmacies may administer COVID booster shots to all Massachusetts residents age 5 and older, and the cost will be covered by health insurance providers.

"It's just a sense of relief and maybe a little bit of joy for living in a place like Massachusetts [which] really values the health of its citizens," said Jayne Smith, the shared service manager at the Southern Berkshire collaborative.

The announcement comes after federal regulators last week narrowed eligibility for Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, restricting access to people under 65 unless they have serious health conditions and revoking authorization for Pfizer shots in children under 5, marking the agency's most restrictive policy since the shots became available.

In response, CVS last week said the pharmacy chain would not be able to administer COVID vaccine shots in Massachusetts, Nevada and New Mexico, even to individuals with prescriptions, without approval from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, according to CBS News.

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Critics, including some within the FDA, say the new rules reflect Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s broader skepticism toward vaccines, particularly those built on mRNA technology, which has been used in the vast majority of shots administered to Americans.

"It feels like there's been politicization of something that should be above and beyond politics," Smith said. "At the end of the day, everyone needs to be healthy, and the more that those of us that are healthy in our environment, the more that we can protect people who can't get vaccinated or are at high risk for illness."

At the direction of Gov. Maura Healey, the state Department of Public Health issued a standing order Wednesday permitting pharmacists to give COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to Massachusetts residents age 5 and older, as reported by the State House News Service.

Then, on Thursday, Healey announced a broader policy change granting the state's public health commissioner authority to decide which vaccines pharmacists can provide. The previous rule tied pharmacists to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' recommendations, which in turn prevented major chains like CVS and Walgreens from administering the vaccines in Massachusetts.

"Under the Trump administration, the CDC has been hijacked by people like Robert Kennedy - people who don't believe in science and people who don't believe in science- based health care," Healey said at a press conference. "This is not going to happen in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, we will not let Donald Trump or Robert Kennedy get in the way of patients, and the care, and the treatments and the medication that they want and need."

The announcement of the change in federal regulations had left many residents and providers with questions.

"We've been getting a lot of calls from people and emails from people that weren't sure if they were eligible [and] people who had loved ones that were fragile and really wanted to get the vaccine," Smith said. "And so this really clears that up for those individuals, and we can just plan to distribute vaccines to the people who want them, without having to worry about the negative impact of the sustainability of our program."

Massachusetts' new regulations also require health insurance providers to cover vaccines recommended by state health officials, regardless of CDC guidance. This change has eased concerns among health care providers who worried about being reimbursed for the shots.

"The biggest risk [was] reimbursement, because that sustains the program," Smith said, "and it has allowed us to really expand some of our services."

Despite the statewide remedy, access in the Berk-shires remains uneven.

While CVS announced it was working to make COVID-19 vaccines "available as soon as possible" throughout Massachusetts, as of Thursday afternoon, the closest vaccination sites listed on the CVS website are in Connecticut.

The closure of Community Health Programs' mobile vaccination unit earlier this year has also left rural and underserved communities with fewer options.

To fill the gap, the South-ern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative expanded mobile clinics and in-home vaccination services, now reaching up to 80 homebound individuals and adding more community clinics.

"Local public health remains committed to serving the population," Smith said. "If you're not good at a computer, we're here by phone. We're real people, and we really just care about the health of the public in our region."

Residents can find updated vaccine locations at getvaccinatedberkshires.org.

Maryjane Williams can be reached at [email protected] or 413-496-6139.

Gov. Maura Healey speaks at a press conference Thursday about changes that will allow pharmacists to administer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to residents over age 5. "In Massachusetts, we will not let Donald Trump or Robert Kennedy get in the way of patients, and the care, and the treatments and the medication that they want and need," she said. STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE