Why Should Delaware Care?
Policies and messaging from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is prompting some states to form their own factions to recommend vaccines. Delaware is the latest state to join one of those coalitions.
Delaware is distancing itself from the country’s top health agencies by joining other Northeast states to form regional health guidelines, particularly around public vaccine guidance.
The move, announced Friday by Gov. Matt Meyer, follows uncertainty surrounding vaccine access, sparked by federal actions including new U.S. Food & Drug Administration regulations limiting the coronavirus vaccine to those who are 65 or older.
In the announcement, Meyer said Delaware would join with Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to collectively focus on “developing evidence-based recommendations on vaccinations, disease surveillance, emergency preparedness and supporting state public health labs.”
Meyer also emphasized that the coalition would base its recommendations on “science” – an apparent reference to recent federal policy decisions that critics say were to appease politics and not backed up by scientific data.
“Science must continue to determine how we keep our state healthy, and that science says vaccines save lives and protect our communities,” Meyer said.
Meyer’s announcement came after Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey ordered her state’s insurance carriers to continue to cover vaccines, even if they were not recommended by the federal government.
It also follows a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparred over vaccine access.
Chris Haas, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Insurance Commissioner, said Monday that her office is working to put together a list in the coming days with insurance providers’ commitments to cover immunizations.
She also said that the insurance commissioner’s office “was not looped into the Public Health Coalition announced by the Governor.”
“Should we find that carriers are unwilling to continue providing existing coverage for vaccinations, we will make every necessary effort, including via the legislature, to require such coverage,” Haas said in an email to Spotlight Delaware.
A shift away from federal health officials has also occurred on the West Coast, with California, Oregon and Washington forming their own coalition this month to manage public health recommendations.
Conversely, Florida has announced that it would repeal many vaccine mandates for schoolchildren.
The Delaware Division of Public Health, which leads the state’s epidemic response, did not respond to a request for comment.
