Gov. Tony Evers has signed an executive order directing The Department of Health Services to take any steps available to ensure Wisconsinites have access to vaccines.
Among other things, the guv’s order directs the Wisconsin DHS to “ensure vaccine access for Wisconsinites to the fullest extent of the law and available funding.”
It’s the latest step by a Dem guv related to vaccines since the Trump administration under the direction of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has curtailed access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Spreading fear, distrust, and disinformation about safe and effective vaccines isn’t just reckless, it’s dangerous,” Evers saidb yesterday. “RFK and the Trump Administration are inserting partisan politics into healthcare and the science-based decisions of medical professionals and are putting the health and lives of kids, families, and folks across our state at risk in the process.”
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Since the move by the Trump administration, California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii have joined to issue immunization guidance, while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a disaster through Oct. 5 to allow pharmacists to prescribe and administer the latest COVID-19 vaccine.
The FDA last month updated its COVID-19 vaccine guidance to limit the groups approved to get the updated shot to those 65 and older, as well as anyone at least 6 months old who has at least one underlying health condition that increases their risk of infection.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is expected to meet later this week to discuss COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. The full extent of the vaccine’s availability won’t be clear until after that.
In announcing the move, Kennedy posted on X that he had promised to halt COVID-19 vaccine mandates, keep the vaccine available to those who want them, demand placebo-controlled trials from companies and “end the emergency.” He wrote the FDA actions accomplished the goals and the vaccines remained available “for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors.”
“The American people demanded science, safety, and common sense. This framework delivers all three,” Kennedy wrote.
Critics of Kennedy’s move argue it will mean many Americans will be unable to get the vaccination unless they pay out of pocket.
Evers’ executive order includes a directive to the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance to direct all insurers within its regulatory authority to cover the vaccine without cost-sharing.
