Hochul signs executive order to make COVID vaccines more accessible in New York
It just got easier to get the COVID vaccine in New York.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Friday expanding access to anyone seeking a booster across the state.
The Food and Drug Administration's latest vaccine recommendations say Americans under 65 need a prescription in order to get the COVID shot. Now, the New York governor is giving pharmacists the power to prescribe and then administer the vaccine all in one visit.
"If you want your child to have a COVID shot, it should be available to you and covered by insurance," Hochul said Friday while visiting an elementary school on Long Island. "The order is signed and now in effect."
New York responds to federal COVID vaccine changes
The move comes as a direct rebuke to the federal government's new guidance on COVID shots. Last month, the FDA recommended the booster only be taken by Americans over 65 or with underlying health conditions.
"The Trump administration is ignoring science, ignoring health and making decisions that are just starting now that will have nothing but a negative effect on our families' health," Hochul said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was grilled about the changes Thursday on Capitol Hill. Kennedy was also asked about a spate of recent firings and resignations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"These changes were absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world's gold standard public health agency," he testified.
Kennedy insisted that the vaccine is still broadly accessible nationwide.
"I would say, effectively, we are denying people vaccine," Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said.
"You're wrong," Kennedy replied.
"It's a lot of confusion," said Dr. Danny Dang, chairman of the Pharmacists Society of New York. "What we've seen so far with that, having the patient go to the doctor to get prescription, coming back, is a major roadblock, and it's just a hassle."
Dang says Hochul's executive order will give more patients at his Hell's Kitchen pharmacy access to the shot.
"What it really does is restore it"
"So what it really does, it restores it back to what people are generally used to in the past," New York state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said.
"I want to get this on the books to make sure that the status quo that existed before the federal government decided to ignore the health needs of our families, before they took these steps, that the status quo remains in the state of New York," said Hochul. "So you can go into a pharmacy, not have to worry about going to a doctor's office and getting a prescription, which is another step that I think a lot of people just don't have time in their busy lives to handle."
Hochul said Friday that New York is seeing about 600 new COVID cases per day.
McDonald said if people have an underlying condition such as asthma or obesity, the pharmacist can now write your prescription, but if not, patients can now sign a routine waiver in the pharmacy to get one.
"If you have Medicaid, it's covered by Medicaid. If you have health insurance, it's covered by your health insurance," McDonald said.
The state is communicating the guidance to pharmacies and doctors offices across the state and will then focus on getting the message out to the general public.
Hochul said the executive order is a temporary emergency measure until the state legislature can reconvene and pass it into law.