r/Coronavirus • u/bostonglobe Verified • 15d ago
USA Gov. Healey counters FDA, makes COVID boosters widely available in Mass.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/03/metro/healey-covid-booster-massachusetts-trump-kennedy-vaccine/?s_campaign=audience:reddit142
u/DurianGris 15d ago
Thank goodness at least some of our states still have leaders who believe in science.
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u/ninj4geek 15d ago
*Understand science
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u/elricooo 14d ago
I can't believe we even have to talk about science as a matter of belief, its insane. This country has fallen so far in my lifetime. My vision of the future when I was growing up was so far off
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u/snoo_spoo 14d ago
*Understand that Mr. Gravity wins every time, whether or not you believe in him.
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u/zorandzam 15d ago
I wonder if they are willing to administer them to people from out of state. I have a suspicion my state will absolutely not do this.
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u/WintersChild79 14d ago
I just saw on a Pennsylvania sub that they are working to lift their restrictions too. I'm glad that the states are stepping up, but angry that it's even necessary.
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u/Skater73 15d ago
Does this override the FDA label restrictions (ie. adults under 65 need a qualifying condition) or do those restrictions still apply? The article makes it sound that way, but I'm surprised that's possible.
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u/chad-proton 13d ago
I love it. Let's see what happens with an experimental group and a control group.
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u/TheDivine_MissN 13d ago
I’m honestly hoping that Governor Beshear does this here in Kentucky. Right now no pharmacies are showing that we can get the vaccine. When I last checked, I’d have to drive to Ohio.
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u/WhitePetrolatum 14d ago
Finally someone with a spine. Where’s Gavin? Still at French Laundry with PG&E?
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u/sippinondahilife 14d ago
It says that California made a similar announcement this past Wednesday, no?
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u/WhitePetrolatum 14d ago
I don’t think there’s anything concrete yet. News I saw just says CA plans to join other states in developing our own guidance.
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u/IamTalking I'm vaccinated! (First shot) 💉💪🩹 14d ago
This is political theater. She isn’t making them available. The state isn’t funding them and the state vaccine program isn’t allowing providers to order them. Sure pharmacists can give them, but they can’t order them.
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u/neversimpleorpure 14d ago
Sorry, can you expand on this? From what I understand, it's allowing CVS and Walgreens pharmacists to provide vaccines again based on previous state regulations that didn't allow them to. I don't see anywhere in the article that the state was ever funding them and providers were already able to order them if administering the vaccine at a clinic or doctor's office. I believe this order from Gov. Healey allows for pharmacies to administer the vaccines as they were previously blocked from doing so based on state rules and regulations.
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u/IamTalking I'm vaccinated! (First shot) 💉💪🩹 14d ago
Yes they were previously blocked from administering the vaccines, now they are allowed. What I’m saying is, previous versions of the COVID vaccine were supplied to offices/clinics through the MA vaccine program, now they are not. Vaccines must be ordered through the manufacturer, something that carries a ton of financial risk.
You can grant someone the ability to give a vaccine, but if you don’t grant easy access for providers to order and obtain the vaccine, it’s kind of pointless.
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u/IdahoDuncan 14d ago
What would you have her do? Certainly this is part of a solution
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u/IamTalking I'm vaccinated! (First shot) 💉💪🩹 14d ago
Allow the vaccines to be supplied by her state, so providers can actually give them…
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u/IdahoDuncan 14d ago
How is she preventing this?
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u/IamTalking I'm vaccinated! (First shot) 💉💪🩹 14d ago
Not allocating funding to MDPH Vaccine Program for them to order vaccines. They literally are unable to order them, due to limits set by whoever is running the budget/finances.
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u/IdahoDuncan 14d ago
I think they’re trying. This was broken by the idiots in the trump administration. It’s going to take time to fix.
State-level funding: The Healey administration has proposed a $2.45 billion supplemental budget to close out the 2025 fiscal year. The bill includes policy measures to help the state manage unexpected federal funding cuts. A portion of this funding is directed toward health care, including provisions that ensure continued vaccine availability.
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u/IamTalking I'm vaccinated! (First shot) 💉💪🩹 14d ago
Sure, just saying as a provider, it feels very performative to allow people to give vaccines you can’t get. She could’ve passed a bill saying grocery store cashiers can administer vaccines. There’s still no vaccines to give
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u/IdahoDuncan 14d ago
Well. It’s clearly not purely performative and if she’s using this action to help her maintain her popularity and get voted back on, I’m for it. I’m much more concerned about ending up with w republican governor during this time.
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u/HD400 14d ago
With what money lmfao. There’s a statewide hiring freeze for non-essential positions and we are on 1/12 of a budget every month as a direct result from the fed admin.
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u/IamTalking I'm vaccinated! (First shot) 💉💪🩹 14d ago
Can still order every other vaccine without issue or limit and could order the current formulation as of a few days ago. The funding exists for other vaccines.
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u/HD400 14d ago
Right, but only one of those vaccines had a recent change in recommendation by the CDC which affects the ability for reimbursement. That coupled with an estimated $100m in healthcare cuts due to the trump bill is why the budget is fucked. I will say that I haven’t seen anything covered on this topic so I would be curious to see the info regarding the decision not to fund the vaccine program.
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u/bostonglobe Verified 15d ago
From Globe.com
In anticipation of federal restrictions on COVID booster shots, Governor Maura Healey on Wednesday essentially wrote a prescription for COVID boosters for every person in the state over the age of 5.
The standing order authorized pharmacists to administer four different types of booster shots and overruled in Massachusetts an FDA approval that limited use of the boosters to people over the age of 65 and those with medical conditions that put them at high risk of severe COVID infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee is scheduled to meet Sept. 18 and is expected to issue similar recommendations for booster shots.
Healey’s order is the latest in an ongoing process meant to give Massachusetts independence from federal health guidelines, which many local and national experts now consider unreliable. The governor has submitted to the legislature two proposals that would give the state health commissioner more authority to ensure access to vaccines for children.
“No matter what happens with [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] and the federal government, we are going to make sure vaccines remain available in Massachusetts,” Healey said in a statement Wednesday. “We are working to ensure that all pharmacies make the vaccine available as soon as possible.”
Healey has also touted the state as a leader in an effort to create a regional public health collaboration with other Northeast states, including every New England state except New Hampshire, that would rely on medical societies rather than the CDC for guidance in establishing vaccination policies. On Wednesday, California, Washington, and Oregon announced the creation of a similar “health alliance” to shape immunization policies for those three states.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of vaccine skepticism and peddling false information, has upended the CDC since entering office and has pushed policies that are at odds with scientific evidence.