LANSING, Mich. (MIRS News) – Licensed pharmacists in Michigan would be permitted to continue ordering and administering vaccines to individuals 2.5-years-old and over without a physician’s oversight, under legislation that would codify a COVID-19 pandemic-era policy into state law.

During a Senate Health Policy Committee meeting on April 12, Amy Drumm, the senior vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Retailers Association (MRA), explained how a COVID-era federal law enabled U.S. pharmacies to order and administer both COVID-19 vaccines and all recommended childhood vaccinations.

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“This allowed pharmacies to fill gaps in care that may have existed otherwise,” Drumm said.

Originally, pharmacies across the country were awaiting a May 11 deadline – which is when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services marked the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency – to no longer be federally authorized to perform COVID-19 tests and similar diagnostic testing, nor to administer influenza or COVID-19 vaccines outside of a physician’s guidance.

However, the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced Friday his intentions to extend the provision allowing pharmacists, pharmacy interns and pharmacy technicians to administer COVID-19 and seasonal influenza vaccines, as well as COVID-19 tests, to December 2024.

Even so, federal coverage for the same group to administer routine childhood vaccinations will end when the public health emergency expires.

If approved, SB 219 by Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) will ensure a licensed pharmacist’s ability to order and administer an “immunizing agent” without a physician’s direction within state law. It will additionally permit them to administer diagnostic laboratory tests cleared by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and to assign administration duties to a qualified pharmacy technician.

“I think that this bill is a no-brainer. I think that when you look at the pandemic, although it was stressful for many, it was an opportunity to add access to care for a lot of individuals,” Santana said to the committee. “Most people trust their pharmacist. They have a relationship with those pharmacists, and definitely we should not hinder that work that’s already being done.”

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Director Amy Ellis of Clinical Care and Pharmacy Operations for SpartanNash, a grocery store retailer headquartered in Kent County, told the committee 15 of Michigan’s corporately owned pharmacies are located in the state’s most socially vulnerable areas, where the social vulnerability index is greater than 75%.

Also, with SpartanNash operating a buying group with more than 100 independently owned pharmacies, Ellis described how many of them are located in rural communities with fewer health care providers.

“…And sometimes they are the only pharmacy within a reasonable driving distance. We (assist) many of these community pharmacies with immunization training and access to vaccines, as they may not have otherwise had the means to administer these programs on their own,” Ellis said. “Without the provisions included in this bill, the administrative burden of providing essential services such as vaccines and testing could be too high for these independent pharmacies, leaving these rural communities with fewer options of care.”

According to information relayed in a letter of support from the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), more than 90% of Americans reside within five miles of a community pharmacy, with Michigan specifically being home to more than 10,170 practicing pharmacists.

Christine SHEARER of the Michigan Association of Health Plans advised the committee to add a “friendly” amendment to SB 219 requiring all immunizations approved for administration be reported to the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR), “which is currently law for children now . . . so again, this would expand it to adults and everybody else to be reported to MICIR.”

SB 219 was discussed last week, but not voted on.