With major, rapid changes upending longstanding federal immunization policies, it’s seldom been more confusing to get vaccinated. But a new group in Colorado is hoping to clear the confusion and ensure access to vaccines for those who want them.
The group is called Colorado Chooses Vaccines, and it’s a coalition of at least a dozen major medical and community organizations in the state. Those organizations run the gamut from hospitals — Children’s Hospital Colorado, Denver Health and the Colorado Hospital Association are all on board — to professional associations — including the Colorado Medical Society and the Colorado chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics — to nonprofits such as the Colorado Children’s Campaign and academic institutions such as the Colorado School of Public Health.
The coalition has received seed funding from the Rose Community Foundation via a newly launched fund called the Colorado Vaccine Access Fund.
“This is a classic all-hands-on-deck moment when various sectors, from health to education to business to community, are encouraged to rally together around this shared cause,” Elaine Gantz Berman, a former state Board of Education member who has also provided funding for the coalition, said in a statement announcing the alliance.
The new coalition is one example of how state governments and local organizations are working to counter vaccine policy changes at the federal level under the watch of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who has a long history of criticizing immunization efforts.
Among the recent changes: the Food and Drug Administration placed restrictions on its approvals for COVID vaccines, a powerful Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee recommended changes to the use of a vaccine for measles and chickenpox, and that same committee is set to consider whether to recommend changes for when a vaccine against hepatitis B is given.
In response, organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics have released their own vaccine recommendations. Earlier this month, four Western U.S. states — California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington — formed the West Coast Health Alliance to counter what they see as unscientific vaccine guidance from the federal government and to issue their own recommendations.
While it’s still early in the planning process, Colorado Chooses Vaccines will probably not be a similar guidance-issuing organization, said Dr. Sean O’Leary, a Colorado pediatrician who is a nationally recognized expert on vaccines. O’Leary is leading the new coalition.
Instead, O’Leary said the coalition will likely focus on education and access.
“We want to make sure we do our best to maintain and perhaps even expand access to vaccines for Coloradans,” O’Leary said. “We want to do everything we can collectively to make sure everyone who wants vaccines can receive vaccines.”
Part of that work involves identifying areas of Colorado law and regulation that rely on CDC vaccine guidance — the recent issue with pharmacies requiring a prescription for COVID vaccination is one example — and proposing changes that could ensure continued access even if the CDC changes its stance on a particular vaccine.
O’Leary said the coalition will also work to educate doctors and pharmacists about what vaccines are available, how to obtain them and when they can administer them. He said the coalition may eventually move into more public-facing efforts, especially vaccination education campaigns in disadvantaged and underserved communities.
The goal is to build a robust response system that can act if even bigger federal vaccine restrictions or changes happen.
“The changes at federal level are confusing,” O’Leary said, “but relatively minor compared to what might be coming down the road.”