Both President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have openly questioned vaccine efficacy and safety, going against widely accepted scientific research. And professional provider groups, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration have issued conflicting recommendations.
Dr. Anne Zink, physician and former chief medical officer for Alaska, hopes Alaskans don’t get overwhelmed by national news on vaccines.
“In general, vaccines are available. They’re accessible. They’re covered by your insurance, and you should just talk to your provider and get vaccinated if that is something you think will help you stay healthy and well, like it will for many people across the state,” she said.
Zink said access to vaccines this year will likely largely stay the same. According to the latest guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, everyone 6 months or older can get a COVID vaccine, in consultation with a provider. And Zink said unlike in some other states, a pharmacist is considered a provider.
“Pharmacists in Alaska can prescribe and administer vaccines, and so it does have to involve shared clinical decision making, so how pharmacists interpret that may be different, but you do not need to go running to your clinician to make an appointment,” Zink said.
But she said it’s best to call ahead to a pharmacy to check on availability and if they require any new steps.
Vaccines for the respiratory season typically include flu, COVID, RSV or Respiratory Syncytial Virus, and sometimes pneumococcal vaccines, which prevent pneumonia. The age ranges for some of those vaccines have changed this year, according to Sarah Aho, immunization program manager for the state.
She said flu shots remain the same and are recommended for everyone 6 months and older. RSV vaccines are now recommended for those age 75 and up. And she said vaccines preventing pneumonia are now recommended for those over 50. Aho said based on the recent CDC recommendations, insurance should cover COVID vaccines.
“Last week, the trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans said that its members would cover the shot at no cost to patients,” Aho said.
She said that trade group includes all major insurers in the state. According to their press release, they will cover CDC-recommended vaccinations including this year’s COVID and flu vaccines.
Aho said vaccine supply should also look similar to past years, but overall the state has seen a decline in kindergarten vaccine rates since January. And she said mixed messaging about the COVID vaccine could be confusing for Alaskans.
Multiple professional provider groups, like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians, have published their own guidelines for COVID vaccines, which differ from each other and from the FDA and CDC recommendations.
“The biggest difference in these is for the childhood or pediatric group,” Aho said. “Some are recommending all. Some are recommending high risk or underlying health conditions.”
So she suggests Alaskans have a conversation with a health care provider about their specific health needs.
Those kinds of conversations are something Anchorage pediatrician Dr. Janet Shen said she’s having more and more often with families.
“We’re definitely having more conversations about vaccines with patients,” Shen said. “I think just because it’s been in the news a lot more.”
She said anecdotally, she’s seen more families choose not to vaccinate since January and sees it as a byproduct of vaccine hesitancy in the country’s leadership as well as confusing or incorrect information posted on social media. But she said she continues to share much of the same advice.
“I think a lot of medicine is about prevention and I think vaccines have been one of the major advances in medicine in terms of preventing illness,” she said.
And she said individual choice around vaccines is important.
“But we all live in a community, and we should not only protect ourselves, but think about the people around us, the vulnerable, the infants, the elderly, the immunocompromised,” Shen said.
And she said that should also figure into our decisions about vaccines.
