Member Forum: Vaccine Chaos Caused by the Trump Administration - Your Health is at Risk.
There is considerable uncertainty in the community regarding how to protect ourselves and our children from severe disease caused by the COVID-19 virus during the upcoming respiratory virus season. Influenza vaccines have been fully approved and are now available. Updated COVID-19 vaccines, however, have just been approved by the FDA — but have not yet been released — and are still the subject of considerable controversy. A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine describes the dispute and provides resources for more information to aid you in your personal decision making.
What’s the Issue and Why Does it Matter?
Americans have become accustomed to receiving reliable, evidence-based guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for the distribution of annual Flu vaccines. Similarly, the COVID-19 vaccine has been routinely approved for most adults and children, regardless of underlying conditions. While neither of these vaccines are mandated, CDC approval generally leads to simplified distribution opportunities as well as broader insurance coverage for vaccines which have kept the vulnerable safer. Today’s confusion has been caused by the provision of guidance documents which significantly restrict eligibility for the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
Guidance based on the anti-vaccine and anti-science policies of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr) requires that the use of the Covid vaccine be limited to older adults (> 65 years of age) and high-risk young children with specific health conditions. Individuals not fitting within these two groups who wish to be vaccinated will likely require a prescription from their health care provider (HCP) for off-label use, which means pharmacies may not administer them — depending on which state you live in —and health insurance may not cover them.
In contrast, a number of traditional US medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) have issued evidence-based guidance recommending much broader usage, including by pregnant women and healthy young children. In publishing their guidance, AAP emphasized that “young children are still at risk of severe cases of the disease” caused by the COVID-19 virus which continues to be a cause of hospitalization and death in the pediatric population. Note that the AAP is one of several leading medical organizations that are suing HHS over recent changes to federal COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.
The HHS/FDA, in an announcement on social media, approved the three available COVID-19 vaccines, developed by Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax, on Wednesday August 27th with the narrow restrictions described above. The next step before vaccine distribution would normally have been review and approval by the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and sign off by the CDC Director. However, in a dramatic event on Wednesday, the CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez was fired because she refused to both adopt RFK Jr.’s position on vaccination policies and also due to her refusal to fire senior CDC officials.
Adding to the chaos and uncertainty are recent reports that the mRNA-based COVID vaccines may be pulled from the market in the near future. This action would be consistent with the recent draw-back of research funds for all mRNA-based vaccine development. If mRNA vaccines are pulled, the only COVID-19 vaccine available in the US would be the recently FDA-approved Novavax’s recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine. Important questions to ask would be whether the US has stockpiled sufficient amounts of this alternate vaccine in readiness for the 2025-2026 respiratory season as well as whether Americans will be comfortable using a different COVID-19 vaccine than they have used in previous years.
As a result of the multiple actions by HHS in restricting who is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, many more people are likely to get sick in the upcoming respiratory season and beyond. Many more people being infected will mean many more people will spread the virus to others in the population. The predictable result will be an increase in sickness, hospitalizations and deaths.
What Action Can You Take?
First, it is important to be informed, but it is also difficult to keep up with all the news, let alone what is happening in public health. Here are some useful vaccine-related resources:
A recent post of the LaughterInLight substack summarizes all the organizations involved in the current dispute and is an excellent source of information.
A very useful and up-to-date Substack is Katelyn Jetelina’s “Your Local Epidemiologist” which provides weekly information on health risks to be aware of in a “disease weather report.”
Another site specifically related to vaccines is the Vaccine Integrity Project at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.
Second, make sure that this topic remains a hot-button political issue. It is important to know what your state and Congressional representative’s strategy is on ensuring the health of their constituents. For instance, the 5Calls website as of August 25, 2025 provides a script to use when calling your representative to demand that he/she address the need for “General access to updated COVID-vaccines.” Please talk to your friends, relatives and neighbors and ask them to call.
Specifically in New York, Assembly Member Micah Lasher has introduced a bill (A8383) which will eliminate the need for this state to follow the CDC requirements for immunization against COVID-19. The bill was originally introduced in May 2025 and aimed specifically for immunization against meningococcal disease. According to a recent press release by AM Lasher and Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, language in both the Senate and Assembly Bills will soon be amended to broaden the diseases covered.
The amended bill language is not on the NYS Legislative website yet, but as soon as it is, we need to do two things:
Call your representatives to ask them to support the Bills.
Call Senate and Assembly Leaders to demand they call a Special Session so it can be passed quickly.
We will keep you posted about progress in the very near future!
There is one other thing that you can do. Reach out to Governor Hochul to find out what her policy will be to protect the health and safety of NY citizens when there is a surge of COVID-19 infections.
Questions for the Governor could include:
Are stockpiles of COVID-19 vaccines being financed and developed by NY state?
Are there amendments to the state’s public health laws that, if made, would provide some independence from the restrictive federal actions.
Finally, there is one ray of light; Democratic Governors in at least two blue states are exploring other ways to keep their citizens safe as the ability of the CDC to protect us has eroded:
“Governor Pritzker’s health department in Illinois is currently exploring the possibility of purchasing COVID-19 vaccines in bulk straight from manufacturers. Additionally, a coalition of mostly-blue states led by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey is planning to coordinate on the purchase and distribution of pediatric vaccines, should the federal government restrict access to them. This will likely include big states like New York and Pennsylvania.”