SPRINGFIELD – Illinois is among a growing list of states that are issuing their own vaccine guidelines that could supersede those of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Gov. JB Pritzker issued an executive order this month directing the Illinois Department of Public Health to work with other state agencies to develop vaccine guidelines.

Specifically, Pritzker’s directive calls on IDPH Director Sameer Vohra, in consultation with the Illinois Immunization Advisory Council, to issue “standing orders” that authorize eligible health care providers, including pharmacists, to administer vaccines that IDPH deems appropriate.

Those will include vaccines for seasonal respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19, flu and RSV. They will also include routine child and adult vaccines such as the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, and Hepatitis B.

The standing orders will also spell out the authority providers will have to administer vaccines across various age groups, based on IDPH recommendations.

In a statement, Pritzker said he was responding to several recent federal actions initiated by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Among those were the Food and Drug Administration’s decision in August to rescind emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines. That meant removing approval of the vaccine for children and adults ages 6 months to 64 years who have no underlying risk conditions. The latest guidelines also removed a recommendation for vaccination for pregnant patients.

ADVERTISEMENT

Pritzker also noted Kennedy’s recent firing of top CDC administrators, including the agency’s director Susan Monarez, as well as the abrupt dismissal  of the entire board of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

“This is about making sure no family in Illinois is left wondering if they can protect themselves against preventable serious illness,” Pritzker said in a statement. “When the federal government abandons its responsibility, Illinois will step up. We will follow the science, listen to medical experts, and do everything in our power to enable families to receive the care they need.”

Action in other states

Pritzker’s executive order comes at the same time several other states have taken action to shield their health care sectors from CDC’s changing standards.

On Wednesday, the West Coast Health Alliance — made up of California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii — announced its own guidelines for flu shots, COVID-19 vaccines and other common vaccination protocols.

According to published reports, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia have also begun endorsing alternative vaccine recommendations.

In an email statement to Capitol News Illinois, IDPH said its guidelines are not mandatory for health care providers or the general public.

“The goal is to provide practitioners and the public with the best evidence-informed and science-based guidance so that they can make appropriate clinical and personal decisions,” the agency said. “To the extent that guidelines from the CDC are backed by scientific evidence and review, IDPH will recommend them. If those guidelines deviate from those standards, IDPH will offer appropriate guidance to Illinois providers and families.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.