Pritzker signs law letting Illinois set vaccine guidelines, expand coverage and empower IDPH’s advisory committee.
Maggie Dougherty at Capitol News Illinois:
CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill Tuesday that he said will protect Illinois residents from “junk science” undermining evidence-based vaccine regulations at the federal level. The bill will allow the Illinois Department of Public Health director, currently Dr. Sameer Vohra, to issue state-specific guidelines with input from the state’s Immunization Advisory Committee, a group of doctors, nurses and public health professionals that advise the director. It will also allow the committee to issue guidance that differs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including to approve vaccines for seasonal respiratory illnesses including the flu, COVID-19 and RSV and routine vaccines MMR and Hepatitis B vaccines.
IDPH will now be able to form guidelines using a combination of the CDC’s guidance, recommendations from the World Health Organization and other medical and scientific disease prevention experts — and require that immunizations recommended by the state be covered by state-regulated insurance plans. House bill sponsor Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, emphasized the timeliness of the issue, referencing breaking news from Tuesday morning that indicated the CDC vaccine advisory committee planned to discuss child immunization schedules and the efficacy of Hepatitis B vaccines when it meets on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5. “We have relied on this federal system for trusted medical guidance in 1930,” Morgan said. “And it’s been eviscerated. The trust is gone.” [...]
Partisan vaccine debate
Illinois legislators passed House Bill 767 on a party-line vote this October during the annual fall veto session. Republican legislators largely opposed the bill for its political undertones. The new law follows a September executive order in which Pritzker directed IDPH to develop its own vaccine guidelines after the Food and Drug Administration withdrew approval of COVID-19 vaccines for children, pregnant patients and adults under age 65 without underlying risk conditions. Before signing the bill, Pritzker took aim at U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who built his campaign on questioning the efficacy of vaccines and arguing that they cause autism, despite the lack of credible evidence supporting the assertions. “While RFK Jr. and his QAnon-inspired colleagues spreading conspiracy theories and dangerous misinformation about vaccines are running around Washington, Illinois is stepping up to protect the health of our people,” Pritzker said.
God Bless Gov. JB Pritzker (D) for telling the MAHA-fied CDC to take a hike by issuing its own state-specific guidelines for vaccines for Illinois.
