As a CDC advisory panel sets new recommendations for the COVID vaccines this fall, seniors and adults with underlying conditions can still receive the updated COVID vaccines without a prescription.
A motion to have states require a prescription for COVID-19 vaccines failed at the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting Friday. However, the panel voted unanimously to recommend that individuals talk with a health care provider before getting the vaccine – a move that could discourage some from receiving it.
The CDC's recommendations are not final until they are approved by Acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill. Former CDC director Susan Monarez was fired in late August and testified to a Senate committee on Wednesday that her dismissal was due to resisting pressure from Kennedy, who she clashed with over his plans for ACIP.
"NCDHHS is assessing the ACIP recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines to understand potential implications for North Carolina residents," a N.C. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson wrote in an email. "Vaccinations against seasonal respiratory viruses, including flu, RSV and COVID-19 are especially important for people who are at higher risk of severe viral respiratory disease."
There was much confusion in North Carolina and beyond about how individuals could receive the vaccine after the Food and Drug Administration in August restricted approval of the Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax shots for adults at least 65 years of age or those with high-risk conditions. Because state law requires pharmacies to act in accordance with ACIP's guidelines – which it had not set for the COVID vaccine until now – North Carolina became one of a handful of states that required a prescription for younger adults to receive a COVID vaccine. That was until Sept. 12, when State Health Director Dr. Larry Greenblatt to issued an order to allow pharmacies to administer COVID vaccines to seniors and adults with underlying conditions without a prescription.
Since the state's standing order became effective on Sept. 13, several individuals told WUNC that they were able to easily obtain the COVID vaccine from their local pharmacy. A few, however, shared they experienced some hurdles. Chapel Hill resident Ginger Clark, for example, said that the day after the state's standing order announcement, she visited a CVS MinuteClinic in Durham that would not accept her insurance. Then she went to a CVS Pharmacy, where she was told she could not get the vaccine because she was under 65 years of age.
"It was just like, what is happening?" said Clark, 51. "It was just frustrating that the places that were supposed to give the vaccine weren't clear on (the standing order)."
Clark, who said she works with a population that's at high risk of getting severe COVID-19, eventually was successful at getting the vaccine with no problems from another CVS in Chapel Hill.
According to the latest data from the N.C. DHHS, there's been a sharp increase in COVID-19 levels in wastewater across the state in recent weeks. The most dominant COVID-19 variant that has been spreading in the U.S. is XFG, also called "Stratus." It was first detected in the U.S. in March, and now comprises more than three-quarters of COVID infections, according to the CDC. Symptoms of XFG are sore throat, cough, congestion, fever — similar to other variants.
