Pennsylvania governor announces new vaccine safeguards, expanded access to shots in executive order

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Pennsylvania leaders are solidifying their plan to create state-based vaccine programs, guidance and regulatory rules in the wake of new restrictions on vaccines from federal government officials.

Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order Wednesday that empowers several state agencies with the authority to make decisions on shots for diseases like COVID-19, chickenpox, hepatitis B and more.

“I want trained professionals who know science to be empowered to guide you,” Shapiro told patients and health care providers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “I do not want you to be guided by someone like RFK Jr. who I believe is wholly unqualified to give medical advice and who is restricting our freedoms here in Pennsylvania and across the country.”

The executive order mandates that state vaccine recommendations need to align with guidance from national medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

It requires state-regulated health insurance plans to cover all vaccines that have been proven safe and effective by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, regardless of any additional restrictions imposed by advisory groups at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is also tasked with creating a state-based version of the Vaccines For Children program, which provides free shots to kids who are underinsured or uninsured.

That includes an estimated 1.5 million children across the commonwealth, state officials said.

Vaccines offered under the federal program are dependent on recommendations made by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which has been reformed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with some members who have been labeled as vaccine critics.

Shapiro said there will be funding available to support a state-based program.

“If the federal government tries to undermine what has been an incredibly popular and useful and lifesaving program,” he said, “we want to be ready to go with our state program.”

State agencies will also maintain a new centralized vaccine information hub intended to be a one-stop-shop for guidance on currently available shots, recommendations from leading medical associations and societies and insurance questions.

Private health insurers will continue to cover currently available vaccines to the same degree they covered them in 2024, at least through the end of 2026, officials said.

The executive order is in effect indefinitely or “until amended or rescinded by the Governor.”

Pennsylvania announced last month that it would coordinate vaccine guidance and practices with neighboring states by joining the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, a regional coalition focused on public health decisions and initiatives.

Doctors, nurses and health workers at CHOP joined in on the support for the new statewide efforts to promote the benefits of vaccines.

Dr. Charlotte Moser, co-director of CHOP’s Vaccine Education Center, was among a group of experts who served as members of the CDC immunization advisory panel before Kennedy fired them earlier this year.

“The pathogens that cause infectious diseases are an enemy that doesn’t care about our politics, our beliefs, our fears or even state lines,” she said. “We stand at the ready to help fortify the commonwealth’s access to vaccines that protect our children, our families and our communities.”

Lawmakers in Harrisburg are pursuing bills related to who can administer vaccines and how they will be covered by insurance. State Rep. Tarik Khan, a family nurse practitioner and a Democrat who represents part of Philadelphia, is among the bills’ supporters.

“Both of our bills would sort of codify that, number one, insurance companies would have to pay for vaccines that are effective, and two, pharmacists are able to prescribe vaccines that we know are safe and effective so that people can make the choice,” he said.

Legislation has been referred to House and Senate committees.