After the CDC policy change, states are pushing to keep children’s photos free, accessible

As the Trump administration shakes up childhood vaccination recommendations, a growing number of states are moving quickly to ensure vaccines remain free and health care workers are protected from lawsuits.

“States are stepping in to protect their communities,” said Dr. David Higgins, a practicing pediatrician in Aurora, Colorado, and vice president of the Colorado chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Colorado is one of at least six states — along with Alaska, California, Illinois, Maryland and Vermont — that have introduced vaccine-related bills in recent months, with an unprecedented break from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which overhauled the childhood immunization program in early January.

Colorado’s Senate Bill 32 stands out as a broad range of proposals.

It would expand malpractice liability protections for health care providers — including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, clinics, hospitals and insurance companies — related to childhood vaccines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, a leading group of pediatricians, and the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee.

This protection is important because lawsuits can be used by anti-vaccination groups as a ploy to stop health workers, government programs or clinics from providing vaccines to children, lawmakers said.

“We’re not going any further than that; we’re just trying to preserve the environment that health care in the US has been working on,” said Sen. Kyle Mullica, an emergency department nurse who introduced the law. “This doesn’t protect someone if they go outside the rules and do something wrong. It’s just trying to prevent the use of weapons for vaccine-related crimes.”

So far, 28 states have deviated from the CDC’s newborn vaccination recommendations to varying degrees, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health research group. The shift from federal guidelines from legislation that will make sure vaccines remain free, and protect healthcare workers from lawsuits, to relying on AAP guidelines.

The CDC’s change in guidance lowered the recommendation that all children should be protected against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, RSV, dengue and two types of bacterial meningitis. Almost immediately, the AAP and at least 12 other major medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association, reiterated their recommendations to vaccinate children against 18 diseases.

To date, many states have not agreed to federal guidelines and liability protections for vaccines. Some states also have contracts that allow them to purchase vaccines from the CDC at the lowest available price.

“States that don’t take steps to clarify these issues will see disruptions in the vaccine delivery process in their state, whether it’s for legal reasons, liability reasons or just plain confusion,” Higgins warned.

Under Kennedy’s direction, the CDC’s immunization advisory committee took steps to undermine support for childhood immunizations. Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, has repeatedly and incorrectly linked vaccines and autism and abruptly fired all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, replacing them with several vaccine critics. Soon after, the committee restored the number of vaccines recommended for all children.

While Kennedy focused public attention on the “Eat Real Food” campaign to discourage highly processed foods and promote revised dietary guidelines, it fell to Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to voice support for the policies. On CNN in early February, as the largest measles outbreak in decades swept through South Carolina, Oz urged people to “get the vaccine.”

Immunizations are required at school

States determine immunization requirements for school children. They allow families to opt out of immunizations for medical reasons and many allow religious exemptions for children attending public school. Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, said that states have previously deviated from the CDC’s vaccination plan, but “this is the first time that states have deviated from the agency’s lead.”

Higgins worries that without clear, science-backed guidelines from federal health agencies, “vaccination policy is falling apart.”

For example, a new Colorado bill would ensure liability protection for vaccine providers, and allow pharmacists to prescribe and administer vaccines, and would require insurance companies in the state to cover the HPV vaccine. It would also make immunization program funding available to providers, to cover any immunization-related costs that are not funded by the federal government’s immunization program.

The bill would also allow health officials to follow vaccination guidelines from the AAP, the American Academy of Family Physicians, ACOG and the American College of Physicians, in addition to the CDC. The proposed legislation was approved by the Senate in early February.

“It aims to maintain access to science-backed vaccines for Coloradoans who need them,” Higgins said.

The bill is now in the Colorado House. If passed, the law would go into effect in August.