Help stop two bad vaccine bills in the Maryland Legislature!

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Maryland Legislative Bills HB 76 and SB 18 would trivialize very real vaccine risks and serious reactions by expanding the authorization of pharmacists to administer vaccines. 

These terrible “emergency” bills would authorize trained pharmacists to be able to order and administer vaccines for children ages 5-18 if the vaccine is recommended by the CDC or approved by the FDA with the caveat that pharmacists are to inform the child and accompanying adult that well-child visits with a pediatric primary care provider are important. 

If the accompanying adult is not the child’s parent, all that is needed is a verbal directive from a parent, which could easily lead to confusion and contradiction. 

Current statute allows pharmacists to administer certain vaccines to children 11-18 years old if the child has a prescription from an authorized prescriber.  They may administer vaccines to adults that are on the CDC’s Immunization Schedule or if recommended for international travel. 

From 7/1/2021 to 6/20/2023, pharmacists were temporarily authorized to administer FDA-approved vaccines to children 3-18 years old if the vaccine was ordered and administered in accordance with the CDC’s ACIP immunization schedule. 

Pharmacists typically do not possess the extensive expertise needed for administering vaccines, comprehending associated risks, conducting thorough prescreening, identifying contraindications, executing emergency interventions for adverse reactions, reporting reactions to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, and providing guidance to parents and patients regarding matters like the statute of limitations and instructions for filing a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Furthermore, Vaccine Information Statements outline numerous reasons why patients may not be suitable candidates for vaccination.  It is highly improbable that a pharmacist would have the time to thoroughly address all these potential concerns.

Any time pharmacists are allowed to vaccinate, let alone prescribe vaccines, creates significant risks.  Pharmacists are not qualified to recognize or handle serious adverse reactions, nor are they likely to have full knowledge of patient or family history. 

SB 18 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, 2/13/2024. 

Please speak up!  We need YOUR voice to defeat bills H.B. 76 and S.B. 18 today!  

TAKE ACTION

1. Attend the hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, 2/13/2024, at 1:00 PM in the East Miller Senate Building, Room 3. The agenda is located in the hearing details under the “Meetings” tab of the Senate Finance Committee page.  This LINK provides the witness guidelines for the committee. 

• Contact your Maryland State Delegate and Senator and ask them to OPPOSE H.B. 76 and S.B. 18.

You can find out who represents you at:  http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Members/District

Calls are more effective than emails and only take a few minutes.  Below is a sample script along with additional Talking Points.  Use your own words when you call or email – a personal message is always more effective than a form message!

SAMPLE SCRIPT:

“Hi, my name is ____, and I am a constituent.  I am calling to ask Delegate (or Senator) ____ to oppose H.B. 76 (or S.B. 18), which would expand pharmacists’ authority to administer vaccines.

These bills would increase the ability of pharmacists to administer and prescribe vaccines to children as young as five, even when a parent is not present.

I oppose these bills because people need to be in a doctor’s care for medical procedures.  Vaccines may have serious side effects that pharmacists are not qualified to recognize or treat. 

It is reckless to allow pharmacists to prescribe vaccines, especially when they do not have access to a person’s medical history.

As recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court – and evidenced by the more than $5.1 billion that the federal government has paid to victims – vaccines can injure and kill an individual.

I urge _______ to oppose these bills.”

You may wish to use a couple of the talking points below.  Don’t copy all of them – just use them as ideas to help structure your own message.

TALKING POINTS:

1. Pharmacists do not have enough training about all the vaccines, risks, prescreening, contraindications, and emergency interventions for reactions, nor are they instructed on reporting reactions to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System and on advising parents and patients about the statute of limitations and instructions for filing a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. 

• When pharmacists are allowed to prescribe vaccines, it diminishes the doctor/patient relationship and removes critical health history screenings prior to vaccination.  Pharmacists do not have the necessary medical history of an infant or child or the time to prescreen for contraindications based on a child’s personal and family history and unique health needs prior to vaccination.

• Most pharmacies and grocery stores don’t have lifesaving defibrillators as they do in doctors’ offices to save the lives of infants and children who have an immediate life-threatening reaction to vaccines.  Will pharmacists have the equipment and training to be able to tell the difference between cardiac arrest, anaphylaxis, and fainting and act accordingly to save the lives of children who react at the time of vaccination? 

• Vaccine Information Statements list many reasons why patients shouldn’t be vaccinated.  It is highly unlikely that a pharmacist has the time to ask about all the reasons not to vaccinate them.   

• Allowing pharmacists to prescribe vaccines without access to a person’s medical records means that a person may receive unintended or duplicate vaccines.

• Pharmacy groups will support these bills, but it presents a serious conflict of interest because of the financial benefits they will receive if these bills pass. America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are developing 258 vaccines. The U.S. Vaccine Market alone was $36.45 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $149 billion by 2026 and pharmacies stand to increase their profits substantially by allowing pharmacy technicians to put those shots into customers.   

• Pharmacists will not have liability for the injuries and deaths caused by the vaccines they administer to children.  Vaccine administrators are shielded from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths through the combination of the law passed by Congress in 1986 establishing the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and the 2011 Supreme Court Decision BRUESEWITZ ET AL. v. WYETH LLC, FKA WYETH, INC., ET AL.   

• Vaccine package inserts warn of the risk of brain damage, life-threatening allergy, and death, and no one knows in advance whom a vaccine will harm. Pharmacists are not equipped to recognize nor handle serious adverse reactions.

• Vaccines are medical procedures that carry a risk of serious injury.  Hundreds of thousands have reported an adverse reaction to vaccination to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).  The U.S. Government has paid out nearly $5.1 billion dollars to vaccine victims, per VICP Data Reports. https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/hrsa/vicp/vicp-stats-01-01-24.pdf

MORE INFORMATION

Read H.B. 76 and S.B. 18 text here:

https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0076?ys=2024RS

https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/SB0018?ys=2024RS

LINKS embedded in this alert:

Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System –

https://vaers.hhs.gov/

instructions for filing a claim –

https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/how-to-file

National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program –

https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation

Vaccine Information Statements –

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/index.html

$5.1 billion as of 9/29/2023 –

https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/hrsa/vicp/vicp-stats-09-01-23.pdf

Read this article on the lack of safety for all vaccines: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/vaccines-unsafe-since-the-very-beginning/#gsc.tab=0

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