Massachusetts announces vaccine access plans, governor slams Trump administration and RFK Jr.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced the state will be taking measures to ensure vaccines remain accessible to everyone, criticizing the Trump administration and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s cuts to public health across the country.
"We believe that health care is a right and public health is a responsibility," said Healey, who was joined at the news conference by state health officials on Thursday.
Massachusetts governor on vaccines
The governor directed the Division of Insurance and Department of Public Health (DPH) to require insurance carriers to cover vaccines recommended by the state DPH, not the CDC.
These vaccines include COVID, flu and RSV, along with vaccines for children like measles, chickenpox, mumps and Hepatitis B.
"Bottom line, no one in the great state of Massachusetts is going to be denied because of cost. No one," said Healey.
Healey said Massachusetts cannot trust the federal government anymore.
"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.
"The government is failing its responsibility to Americans, including Bay Staters. So we're here to say this is not going to happen in Massachusetts," Healey continued. "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."
Where can you get COVID vaccines in Massachusetts?
Healey says she is ensuring Massachusetts residents who want the COVID vaccine can get them at pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens. This came after CVS said it could not offer the COVID vaccine to anyone in Massachusetts because the federal government was no longer recommending it for adults.
"We had an appointment to get a COVID shot and a flu shot yesterday at a CVS on East Central Street in Franklin and went down and we were told that we couldn't have the COVID shot," said Franklin resident Nancy Wheeler. "And [we] really got no explanation other than that the CDC and the FDA said no."
DPH Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein has since issued an order to allow pharmacies to continue to provide the COVID vaccine to everyone ages 5 and older.
Children under 5 will be able to get the vaccine through their pediatrician. In a statement, the Healey administration said CVS and Walgreens will have COVID vaccine appointments available "as soon as possible."
In a statement, a spokesperson for CVS said, "Following regulatory action by the state of Massachusetts, we will ensure COVID-19 vaccinations are available as soon as possible at all our Massachusetts CVS Pharmacy locations."
The company said vaccination appointments will be available online and on their app; they will also welcome walk-in patients.
Maura Healey calls Florida vaccine plan "crazy"
Massachusetts will also be creating a public health collaboration with other states in New England and the Northeast to safeguard public health.
Healey ended the news conference by criticizing the state of Florida, which announced on Wednesday that it was ending all childhood vaccine mandates. Florida's surgeon general called vaccine requirements in schools an "immoral" intrusion on people's rights bordering on "slavery" and said parents should be able to make their own health care decisions for their children.
"I think it's crazy. I think Ron DeSantis is putting politics over public health. I think a lot of people are going to think twice over going to Florida. I don't think measles was a souvenir that you were looking to return with after a trip to Disney World," said Healey.
RFK Jr. questioned by Senate Finance Committee
Kennedy faced questioning by the Senate Finance Committee Thursday. His testimony grew combative with some Democrats as they demanded answers on the recent shakeup at the CDC, after Kennedy fired the director and several other officials resigned in protest.
Several Democrats, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, called on Kennedy to resign.
Kennedy defended the changes at the CDC, saying they were "absolutely necessary" because of how the agency performed during the pandemic. He also deflected from Warren's accusation that he was denying vaccines to people, saying, "I'm not going to recommend a product for which there's no clinical data for that indication."