Help stop two bad vaccine bills in the North Carolina Legislature!

North Carolina Legislative Bills H.B. 654 and H.B. 712 would trivialize very real vaccine risks and serious reactions by expanding the authorization of pharmacists, pharmacy interns, and technicians to administer vaccines.

Current statute allows pharmacists to administer certain vaccines for patients 18 years and older; influenza and Covid-19 shots for children 10 years and older; influenza, Covid-19, and other vaccines in accordance with ACIP protocols, for children 6 years and older with a prescription from a prescriber who has conducted a physical exam of the child; and pharmacy interns and pharmacy technicians may administer influenza and Covid-19 shots to persons 10 years and older, if under the supervision of an immunizing pharmacist.

H.B. 654 would amend the current statute by:

Authorizing pharmacists to order and administer vaccines for children 3 years or older if the vaccines are authorized by the FDA or licensed by the FDA and recommended by the ACIP, according to the standard immunization schedules of the ACIP.
Authorizing pharmacy interns and pharmacy technicians to administer vaccines to children 3 years or older, if the supervising immunizing pharmacist ordered them.
Authorizing pharmacists to order and perform tests that assist with clinical decision-making related to using and monitoring medications, treating influenza, Covid-19, pharyngitis caused by group A streptococcus, and other conditions.

H.B. 712 would amend the current statute by:

The bill expands those eligible to administer vaccines to include pharmacy technicians and pharmacy interns when an immunizing pharmacist supervises them. The bill changes the eligible vaccines from those “recommended or required by the CDC” to those “recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.”
Altering the approval status required for influenza and Covid-19 shots and combinations of them and the age for which minors are approved to be administered these two vaccines by a pharmacist.
Allowing pharmacy technicians and pharmacy interns to give influenza and Covid-19 shots to minors when an immunizing pharmacist supervises them.

Any time pharmacists are allowed to vaccinate, let alone prescribe vaccines, creates significant risks. Pharmacists are not qualified to recognize or handle serious adverse reactions, nor are they likely to have full knowledge of patient or family history.

Please speak up! We need YOUR voice to defeat bills H.B. 654 and H.B. 712 today!

TAKE ACTION

Contact your North Carolina State Representative and urge him/her to OPPOSE H.B. 654 and H.B. 712.

You can find who represents you here: https://ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators

Calls are more effective than emails and only take a few minutes. Below is a sample script along with additional Talking Points. Use your own words when you call or email – a personal message is always more effective than a form message!

SAMPLE SCRIPT:

“Hi, my name is ____ and I am a constituent. I am calling to ask Representative ____ to oppose H.B. 654 and H.B. 712, which would expand pharmacists’ authority to administer vaccines.

These bills would also increase the ability of pharmacists’ interns to give vaccines. According to the North Carolina Board of Pharmac y a Pharmacy Technician must only hold a high school graduate or equivalent or be currently enrolled in a program that awards a high school diploma.

High school students should not be allowed to administer possibly life-threatening vaccines to adults and young children.

I oppose H.B. 654 and H.B. 712 because people need to be in a doctor’s care for medical procedures. Vaccines may have serious side effects that pharmacists are not qualified to recognize or treat.

It is reckless to allow pharmacists to prescribe vaccines, especially when they do not have access to a person’s medical history.

As recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court – and evidenced by the nearly $4.9 billion that the federal government has paid to victims – vaccines can injure and kill an individual.

I urge _______ to oppose these bills.”

You may wish to use a couple of the talking points below. Don’t copy all of them – just use them as ideas to help structure your own message.

TALKING POINTS:

Pharmacists do not have enough training about all the vaccines, risks, prescreening, contraindications, and emergency interventions for reactions, nor are they instructed on reporting reactions to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System and on advising parents and patients about the statute of limitations and instructions for filing a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

When pharmacists are allowed to prescribe vaccines, it diminishes the doctor/patient relationship and removes critical health history screenings prior to vaccination. Pharmacists do not have the necessary medical history of an infant or child or the time to prescreen for contraindications based on a child’s personal and family history and unique health needs prior to vaccination.

Most pharmacies and grocery stores don’t have lifesaving defibrillators as they do in doctors’ offices to save the lives of infants and children who have an immediate life-threatening reaction to vaccines. Will pharmacists have the equipment and training to be able to tell the difference between cardiac arrest, anaphylaxis, and fainting and act accordingly to save the lives of babies and children who react at the time of vaccination?

Vaccine Information Statements list many reasons why patients shouldn’t be vaccinated. It is highly unlikely that a pharmacist has the time to ask about all the reasons not to vaccinate them.

Allowing pharmacists to prescribe vaccines without access to a person’s medical records means that a person may receive unintended or duplicate vaccines.

Pharmacy groups will support these bills, but it presents a serious conflict of interest because of the financial benefits they will receive if these bills pass. America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are developing 258 vaccines. The U.S. Vaccine Market alone was $36.45 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $149 billion by 2026 and pharmacies stand to increase their profits substantially by allowing pharmacy technicians to put those shots into customers.

Neither pharmacists, pharmacy interns, nor pharmacy technicians will have liability for the injuries and deaths caused by the vaccines they administer to children. Vaccines administrators are shielded from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths through the combination of the law passed by Congress in 1986 establishing the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and the 2011 Supreme Court Decision BRUESEWITZ ET AL. v. WYETH LLC, FKA WYETH, INC., ET AL.

Vaccine package inserts warn of the risk of brain damage, life-threatening allergy, and death, and no one knows in advance whom a vaccine will harm. Pharmacists are not equipped to recognize nor handle serious adverse reactions.

Vaccines are medical procedures that carry a risk of serious injury. Hundreds of thousands have reported an adverse reaction to vaccination to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The U.S. Government has paid out nearly $4.9 billion as of 11/1/2022 to the victims of vaccine injury, per VICP Data Reports. https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data

MORE INFORMATION

Read H.B. 654 and H.B. 712 text here:

https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookup/2023/H654

https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookup/2023/H712

LINKS embedded in this alert:

Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System –

https://vaers.hhs.gov/

instructions for filing a claim –

https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/how-to-file

National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program –

https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation

Vaccine Information Statements –