Increasing Access to Life-Saving Vaccines
American Disease Prevention Coalition works to increase access to life-saving vaccines by advocating for state legislation that enables pharmacists to administer immunizations recommended by the CDC within Recommended Immunization Schedules; immunizations or vaccines recommended in the CDC’s Health Information for International Travel; and those approved or authorized by the United States FDA for Use in the United States—under pharmacist’s own authority, similar to how other vaccine providers, initiate, and administer vaccines.
The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated just how important local pharmacies are in increasing vaccine access. To immunize as many people as possible against the virus as quickly as possible, the federal government granted emergency authorization for pharmacists across the country to administer all vaccines. However, as this emergency authorization comes to an end, pharmacists’, pharmacy interns’, and pharmacy technicians’ authority will once again be restricted in dozens of states across the country.