OPPOSE HB 825: Allowing Pharmacists to Administer Any Licensed Vaccine to Children of Any Age

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Originally published by www.nvicadvocacy.org

Contact Health Quality Subcommittee NOW to VOTE NO! Attend hearing on Monday February 3rd at 3 pm

Dear Florida NVIC Advocacy Team Members, 

Your swift action is needed to stop a dangerous bill, HB 825 which allows pharmacists to administer any licensed vaccine to children of any age. Current law only allows pharmacists to administer vaccines to adults. HB 825 is sponsored by Rep. Fernandez-Barquin and has an effective date of July 1, 2020.

HB 825 is scheduled for a public hearing in the Health Quality Subcommittee on Monday, Feb. 3rd at 3:00 pm, in Webster Hall (room 212 in the Knott Building). 

ACTION REQUIRED:

1. Contact legislators on the Health Quality Subcommittee and respectfully ask them to VOTE NO on HB 825. See committee contact information and talking points below.

2. Attend the hearing in the Health Quality Subcommittee on Monday February 3, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. in Webster Hall (room 212 in the Knott Building) at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, and give testimony AGAINST HB 825. Suggested talking points are below. If you are able to testify, the committee requires you to fill out this form prior to the hearing: https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/AppearanceRequestForm.aspx?MeetingId=12608 A .pdf copy of the form will be displayed to save and print. Two copies of the printed form must be submitted to the Committee Administrative Assistant at the meeting.

3. Contact your Florida state representative and senator and respectfully ask them to oppose HB 825.

  1. Email and call your state representative and senator using their preferred method of contact (see c.)
  2. If you are able, schedule an in-person meeting with your state senator and representative to express to them your opposition to not only HB 825, but also to SB 64 and SB 674 which remove and restrict vaccine exemptions. (see NVICAdvocacy.org for a recent alert on these bills)
  3. Legislative contact information: you can login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal at https://NVICAdvocacy.org, click on the "State Teams" tab and then "My State," and your elected officials are automatically posted on the right side of the page. You can click on their name to display contact information and social media accounts that you can follow. You can also find your representatives here and senators here.

4. Register for and login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal OFTEN to check for updates. We review bills and make updates daily. Bills can change many times during the legislative process and your timely visits, calls, and emails directed at the correct legislators are critical to this process.

5. Please share this with family and friends and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at https://NVICAdvocacy.org and share their concerns with their legislators as well. By registering, they will get email action alert updates. It is also posted in the notes section of our National Vaccine Information Center Facebook Page so you can share it from there too.

6. Please forward any legislative responses you receive or a summary of your meetings to our Florida State Director Toni and our Florida affiliated group Health Freedom Florida at [email protected].

TALKING POINTS:

OPPOSE HB 875 by Representative Fernandez-Barquin.

HB 875 would allow pharmacists to administer any licensed vaccine to children of any age. Current law only allows pharmacists to vaccinate adults.

HB 875 trivializes very real vaccine risks and serious reactions by moving vaccination for infants and small children to the corner drug store or grocery store pharmacy.

  • Most pharmacies and grocery stores don't have lifesaving defibrillators like 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, fainting, and act accordingly to save the lives of babies and children who react at the time of vaccination?
  • This bill undermines a medical home for a child. Pharmacists don't 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 heath needs prior to vaccination. Vaccines, just like all pharmaceutical products, can cause injury and death in some people. The United States Government has paid out more than $4 billion dollars to vaccine victims through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
  • Pharmacists don't have enough training about all the vaccines, risks, prescreening, contraindications, emergency interventions for reactions, reporting reactions to Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, and advising parents about the statute of limitations and instructions for filing a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
  • The Centers for Disease Control Vaccine Information Statements list many reasons why patients shouldn't be vaccinated, and it is highly unlikely a pharmacist has the time to ask about all the reasons not to vaccinate in them. These are some of the reasons to not vaccinate that are recorded in federally required vaccine information statements that a pharmacist with only 8.4 hours of training on vaccines is unlikely to catch.
  • Will they screen for things like allergic reactions to ingredients in the vaccine and is a pharmacist going to cover all these ingredients of every vaccine? Will they check if a child is allergic to yeast (contraindication in HPV vaccine)?
  • Are they going to perform an exam at the pharmacy and take the child's temperature to make sure they don't have a fever since fever is contraindicated for some vaccines in the VIS statements?
  • Are they going to know if the child has a weakened immune system due to disease (such as cancer or HIV/AIDS), medical treatments (such as radiation, immunotherapy, steroids, or chemotherapy), if they have a history of seizures, if they have a parent, brother, or sister with a history of seizures, or if they have a parent, brother, or sister with a history of immune system problems?
  • Will they screen if the child has a condition that makes them bruise or bleed easily, if they might be pregnant (some vaccines cannot be given in pregnancy), or if they are taking aspirin?
  • Will they know if a child has recently had a transfusion or if they have ever had Guillan Barre syndrome post vaccination?
  • Will they know if a child has had a serious or a life-threatening reaction to any vaccine?

Vaccination rates for Florida school children are already high so clearly there is no problem with access to vaccines necessitating letting pharmacists vaccinate all children. Kindergarten vaccination rates for all required vaccines including measles and pertussis containing vaccines are 93.8% and 7th grade rates are 96.3%.

The Florida Pharmacy Association's support of HB 825 presents a serious conflict of interest because of the financial benefits associated for their members if this passes. The U.S. Vaccine Market alone was $36.45 Billion in 2018, and expected to reach $50.42 billion by 2023 and pharmacists stand to increase their profits substantially by being allowed to vaccinate infants and children. This conflict is compounded by the fact that Pharmacists will have no liability for the injuries and deaths caused by the vaccines they administer to infants and children. Vaccines 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.

Please VOTE NO on HB 825. 

COMMITTEE CONTACT INFORMATION: Health Quality Subcommittee

Colleen Burton (R) Chair, (850) 717-5040, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4616&SessionId=89

Rene Plasencia (R) Vice Chair, (850) 717-5050, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4607&SessionId=89

Richard Stark (D) Democrat Ranking Member, (850) 717-5104, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4557&SessionId=89

Melony Bell (R) , (850) 717-5056, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4753&SessionId=89

Mike Beltran (R), (850) 717-5057, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4747&SessionId=89

Kamia Brown (D), (850) 717-5045, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4625&SessionId=89

Kimberly Daniels (D), (850) 717-5014, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4652&SessionId=89

Tracie Davis (D), (850) 717-5013, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4651&SessionId=89

Randall Scott Maggard (R), (850) 717-5038, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4758&SessionId=89

Amber Mariano (R), (850) 717-5036, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4684&SessionId=89

Ana Maria Rodriquez (R), (850) 717-5105, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4719&SessionId=89

Jason Shoaf (R), (850) 717-5007, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4756&SessionId=89

Carlos Guillermo Smith (D), (850) 717-5049, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4642&SessionId=89

Jennifer Mae Sullivan (R), (850) 717-5031, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4602&SessionId=89

Clay Yarborough (R), (850) 717-5012, https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/contactmember.aspx?MemberId=4633&SessionId=89

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