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Pharmacists wary of promoting vaccines amid conflicting

recommendations

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Utah, Georgia, and Louisiana drop prescription

requirements

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Demand for COVID vaccines falls nationwide -IQVIA data

By Amina Niasse

NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Americans headed to

pharmacies for COVID-19 vaccines are running into roadblocks and

confusion due to new U.S. guidance that abandoned broad support

for the shots, contributing to the lowest vaccination rates

since they were introduced.

For the four-week period ended October 3, COVID

immunizations were down about 25% nationally, according to IQVIA

data in analysts' research notes.

Steven Thompson, a 41-year-old financial professional from

Salt Lake City, routinely gets the COVID shot through

employer-sponsored health insurance. In September, he was told

at a Walgreens pharmacy he needed a prescription. Utah, Georgia

and Louisiana had been requiring prescriptions while awaiting

U.S. CDC guidance on who should get the shot.

Thompson's children's pediatrician just sent prescriptions

to Walgreens. His doctor required a visit.

"I hate going to the doctor or doing any activity where I

don't know how much it'll cost," said Thompson, who now doesn't

plan to get a shot unless local infection rates rise.

STATES ADD TO CONFUSION

Utah authorized pharmacists to provide the shot in late

September without prescriptions, while Georgia and Louisiana

dropped the requirement early this month. A Walgreens

spokesperson said patients no longer need a prescription.

Since their mid-pandemic introduction, COVID shots have been

recommended for anyone in the U.S. who wanted one. The U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention withdrew that broad

support, calling for consultation with a healthcare provider

first.

The move came after the FDA approved updated shots only for

people aged 65 and over and those at risk of severe disease. The

Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA

and CDC, is now led by longtime anti-vaccine campaigner Robert

F. Kennedy Jr.

Nadia Hicks, a 31-year-old communications manager from

Atlanta, was surprised to learn she needed a prescription to

receive the vaccine last month at a Publix pharmacy. Hicks, who

has asthma, consulted her doctor for one.

"It's causing a lot of anxiety because I think the less

information we have, the harder it is to know... is it necessary

to get the vaccine now?" she said, adding she did not receive

the usual immunization notice from her healthcare system.

A Publix spokesperson said its pharmacies can now give COVID

shots in Georgia without a prescription.

Health insurers rely on CDC guidelines, informed by

recommendations from its outside expert advisers, to set their

vaccine coverage terms.

Kennedy gutted that advisory group and replaced it with

hand-picked members, many of whom share his controversial

vaccine views. As a result, some states said they now questioned

the scientific basis for CDC guidance and began setting their

own policies. Major insurers have said they will provide

coverage for the vaccine through 2026.

"People hear about the FDA, the CDC, their health

department; there's lots of different discussions about what is

actually the recommendation," said Dr. Aaron Milstone, a

pediatric infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins Health

System in Baltimore.

US VACCINATION RATES HIGHER THAN OTHER WEALTHY NATIONS

In most European countries, Canada and Australia, COVID

vaccine guidance was already limited to older adults and those

at high risk of severe COVID.

The midpoint of vaccination rates for adults over 60 in the

21 European Union countries was 8.7% from August 2024 to March

2025, according to the European CDC, well below the 2024 U.S.

rate among adults of around 23%, according to CDC data.

COVID hospitalizations continue to present a burden on

health systems, said Jodie Guest, an epidemiology professor at

Emory University.

"The science shows us very clearly how important these

vaccines are to keep you individually safe, but also those

around you who are in the very high-risk groups," she said.

CVS Health ( CVS ) Chief Medical Officer Amy

Compton-Phillips said in an interview that demand for COVID and

flu shots has been lower than last year.

"It's a little challenging at the moment, because consumers

are looking for organizations they can trust," she said.

The company, which operates one of the nation's largest

pharmacy chains, said it is providing the shots nationwide

without a prescription.

Pfizer ( PFE ), with German partner BioNTech, and

Moderna ( MRNA ) make COVID shots based on messenger RNA

technology, the safety of which Kennedy and allies have

questioned, contrary to scientific evidence. Novavax ( NVAX )

and French partner Sanofi sell a more traditional

vaccine.

The delay in official CDC guidance on updated shots

following the FDA's more limited approval created confusion

among consumers and independent pharmacies, which make up about

one-third of U.S. pharmacies.

Roger Paganelli, a pharmacist at Mt. Carmel Pharmacy in New

York City, said many pharmacists are wary of promoting vaccines

for patients not approved by the FDA, and that some worry

insurers may refuse to cover them.

Others are concerned they would lose legal protection that

shields them from patient lawsuits, said Paganelli, a past

president at Pharmacists Society of the State of New York who

plans to continue offering the vaccine.

Three pharmacy experts said CDC guidance to consult with

patients acts as a barrier to uptake, especially for low-income

populations in underserved areas who rely on walk-in

immunizations where counseling is impractical.

"As far as the mass clinics, pharmacies are only offering

the influenza vaccine," said Dr. Allison Hill, a director at the

American Pharmacists Association, "because over the past weeks

we've gone back and forth with COVID-19 policy."