Following new Centers for Diseases Control immunization suggestions, CVS and Walgreens will be requiring doctor’s prescriptions to administer the COVID-19 vaccine in compliance with Louisiana’s vaccination guidelines, contradicting past actions to advance the spread of vaccines nationwide.
In 2020, one of the most successful federal campaigns for public health was launched in an effort to accelerate the development and accessibility of the COVID-19 vaccine. The campaign, Operation Warp Speed, was initiated under U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term of presidency, only for it to be contradicted by his cabinet during his second term.
Trump’s handpicked cabinet includes known vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who was named the secretary of Health and Human services earlier this year. Kennedy’s appointment also followed the removal of the vaccine advisory committee, with the replacement being a homogenous panel of skeptics.
These skeptics are considering loosening and possibly even eliminating the CDC’s suggestion on childhood vaccinations, in turn swaying the guidelines of each state’s vaccination requirements and access. The scientific evidence proving the benefits of vaccines are being ignored, promoting the restrictions and denial of the COVID-19 vaccine specifically.
“I think that’s where a lot of the discrepancies are coming from and that we have to be able to weed out personal beliefs versus science,” said Colette Baudoin, director of Loyola’s school of nursing.
The conformity of ideas within the committee are ultimately dismantling the basis of credibility and accessibility regarding the COVID-19 vaccines which was seen during the Operation Warp Speed campaign. Especially by influencing state legislatures who control vaccination laws, which vary by state.
Louisiana’s stance on vaccination has caused major vaccine-administering pharmacies, CVS and Walgreens, to proceed cautiously by requiring a doctor’s prescription in order to provide vaccines. However, this requirement will pose a threat to those who don’t have the means to afford it. Depending on insurance or employer policies, the access to COVID-19 vaccines could also vary based on financial status.
Louisiana local and Loyola student, Emilio Mejia said, “That basically makes it to where you have to be a certain social class to even get a vaccine.”
Baudoin draws attention to the drastic price difference, stating, “we know that also a lot of the insurance companies base their payment on recommendations from the CDC. So if they’re no longer recommending the covid shot, if you or I want to go get it, it could cost us 150, 250 dollars.”
The decline in access to the COVID-19 vaccine is not going to only cause a health gap but it will be dependent on the wealth gap. Even with possible federal funding being blocked by Louisiana’s own republican state representative, Clay Higgins. He declared his “vow” to restrict funding to the New Orleans health department via a post on X.
“The New Orleans Health Department … whoever the hell they are…should be 100% defunded, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics. I will immediately pursue restriction of every federal penny that might make its way to this soon to be writhing band of sorcerers,” Higgins said.
