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WA moves to issue its own guidance for vaccines insurers must cover

Legislation headed to the governor’s desk comes amid controversial changes in vaccine recommendations at the federal level.

Last fall, Washington and other Western states issued their own vaccine recommendations in a sharp rejection of federal policy that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has upended.

And on Thursday, the Washington Legislature passed legislation to change state law so that vaccine coverage is tied to recommendations from the state, not a federal panel filled with Kennedy appointees. It requires insurers to follow the state’s guidelines instead of the ones from the feds that Democrats say can no longer be trusted.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had been made up of vaccine experts from across the country, including one from the University of Washington, but Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, fired them last year. Kennedy replaced them largely with anti-vaccine activists or doctors without expertise in the field. Kennedy has said he wanted to restore trust in a panel he believed was rife with conflicts of interest.

For decades, the committee has reviewed vaccine efficacy and recommended who should receive which shots. The guidance goes to the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, who usually follows the group’s decisions.

These recommendations guide what vaccines insurers will cover, as opposed to forcing patients to pay out of pocket. Under the state legislation, House Bill 2242, insurance companies must cover the state-recommended immunizations for health plans starting or renewing after April 1.

Washingtonians have had access to no-cost immunizations and other preventive health services, like cancer screenings, since 2010.

The bill passed the state Senate on Thursday on a 36-12 vote. All Senate Democrats supported the legislation, along with about a third of Republicans. The House approved it on a party-line vote earlier this month.

“When guidance reflects rigorous research and expert consensus, patients and providers can make informed decisions with confidence and public trust in our health care system is strengthened,” said Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, the chair of the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee.

The committee’s top Republican, Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor, pointed out the legislation carries no vaccine mandates as he indicated his support.

The legislation now heads to the desk of Gov. Bob Ferguson, who requested it in the first place, along with Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer. This is one of the first measures to reach the governor this legislative session.

In his State of the State address to the Legislature in January, Ferguson, a Democrat, noted a new West Coast Health Alliance would be making recommendations reliant on science.

He then shouted out this bill so Washington can “shift vaccine recommendations away from science-denying federal committees and place it with our own Washington state Department of Health, which will be guided by — you guessed it again — science.”

When the governor signs it in the coming days, state law will change immediately.

After the advisory committee purge, Washington banded together with Oregon, California and Hawaii to form the West Coast Health Alliance to issue immunization guidance independent of the feds. The alliance has since announced recommendations on vaccines against COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, among others.

Last month, the CDC overhauled the childhood immunization schedule, reducing the vaccines recommended for kids from 17 to 11. For example, the federal government narrowed recommendations for shots previously advised for all kids, like those against hepatitis A and B and rotavirus.

This week, over a dozen Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration over the moves. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown is not part of the suit. The West Coast Health Alliance rebuked the CDC’s changes, and sided with the schedule laid out by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said the new guidance reflects “common-sense public health policy shared by peer, developed countries.”

Kennedy has also drawn fire for announcing COVID vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, a decision also currently being litigated.

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