BOSTON (WPRI) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced Thursday a series of measures to ensure vaccines for COVID and other diseases remain available to all Massachusetts residents and covered by insurance, regardless of guidance at the federal level.
The announcements come in response to evolving vaccine guidance and shake-ups at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which included the ousting of director Susan Monarez last week.
“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 during a news conference Thursday.
“As a result, the government is failing its responsibility to Americans, including Bay Staters,” she added. “So, we’re here to say: ‘This is not going to happen in Massachusetts.'”
Healey said she directed the Mass. Division of Insurance and Department of Public Health to issue a bulletin that requires insurance companies in Massachusetts to continue to cover vaccines recommended by DPH and not rely solely on CDC recommendations.
According to Healey, Massachusetts is the first state in the country to guarantee insurance coverage of vaccines recommended by the state, including COVID, flu and RSV, along with routine vaccines for children, such as measles, chickenpox, and Hepatitis B.
The governor said Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans have both supported the decision. Healey filed legislation last month that would give DPH authority to set independent standards for vaccine purchasing and recommendations.
Last week, pharmacies including CVS and Walgreens said they could no longer offer the COVID vaccine in multiple states, including Massachusetts, because the federal government was no longer recommending it for adults.
Healey pushed back, directing Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein to issue an order last Friday that allows pharmacies to continue to provide COVID vaccines to Massachusetts residents ages five and older. DPH updated its vaccine administration policy on Thursday.
The governor also announced that beginning Friday, Massachusetts pharmacists could resume scheduling appointments and administering vaccines that have been approved by the commissioner.
Massachusetts will also lead efforts to create a so-called “public health collaboration” with states in New England and across the Northeast to develop “evidence-based recommendations on vaccinations, disease surveillance, emergency preparedness and supporting state public health labs,” according to Healey.
The move comes just days after Rhode Island health officials met in Providence with staff from other regional public health departments to coordinate public health initiatives.
In Washington D.C., Democratic senators grilled HHS Secretary Kennedy Jr. on Thursday over his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda during a congressional hearing.
Rhode Island U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asked him specifically about end-of-life care, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements and the Achieving Healthcare Efficiency through Accountable Design model, also known as AHEAD.
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Whitehouse said “Rhode Island’s health care system is bleeding out” because neighboring hospitals and doctors are paid more.
“I’ve been able to get no assurances from [the executive branch] that they care one whit about this payment differential or that they see AHEAD as a means as resolving this injustice. Mr. Kennedy, our health care system is teetering as a result of this,” Whitehouse said.
“There is no justification for paying a hospital in Fall River 23% more than Rhode Island Hospital when Rhode Island Hospital provides more and better services, as recognized by the Secret Service, which will take an injured president from Martha’s Vineyard to the Rhode Island Hospital Trauma Center, flying right over St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, yet Fall River gets paid more,” Whitehouse added. “It makes no sense and it has to be resolved.”
What is the vaccine guidance in Rhode Island?
R.I. Department of Health spokesperson Joseph Wendelken told Target 12 on Wednesday that the state’s immunization guidelines “have not changed.”
“They are science and evidence-based,” Wendelken said.
“Possible areas of alignment going forward could include emergency preparedness, infectious disease surveillance and response, and public health laboratory services and capacity, as well as immunization,” Wendelken added. “Collaboration like this between states is common in public health.”
During a live interview on 12 News on Wednesday, Gov. Dan McKee said that he didn’t “see any reason” to change policies around vaccine administration.
“We’re going to continue to follow the lead of the professionals and the doctors at the Department of Health,” McKee added.
On Wednesday, the same day that Florida said it will phase out all childhood vaccine mandates, governors in Washington, Oregon and California announced they formed an alliance to establish their own recommendations for who should receive vaccines.
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Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook.
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