LOUISIANA: Expanding Vaccinations Provided by Pharmacists: More access = Less safe
Help kill this bill!
Our Stand: At-A-Glance
- HB471 by Representative Barbara Frieberg removes some basic standards of medical care and does not consider the very real risks associated with vaccination by allowing pharmacists, pharmacy techs, and pharmacy interns to administer ALL vaccinations to children as young as seven. You can read the entire bill here.
- This bill undermines the fundamentals of medical care. Pharmacists don’t have the necessary medical history of an infant or child or the time or knowledge to adequately prescreen for contraindications or allergic reactions. Pharmacists don’t have access to the child’s medical chart which would include the child’s personal and family history and any unique health circumstances. For example, if they have a history of seizures, if they have a parent, brother, or sister with a history of seizures, or if they have a parent, brother, or sister with a history of immune system problems, those are all contraindications to some vaccines. Another example, a yeast allergy is a contraindication to giving the HPV vaccine. That is just one ingredient out of the 80+ ingredients in the 50+ vaccines on the market. There’s a reason pharmacists don’t prescribe medications!
- Most pharmacies and grocery stores don’t have lifesaving defibrillators like they do in doctors’ offices to save the lives of children who have an immediate life-threatening reaction to vaccines like anaphylaxis. Pharmacists don’t have the equipment or training to be able to tell the difference between cardiac arrest, anaphylaxis, and fainting in order to act accordingly and save the lives of children who react at the time of vaccination.
- Pharmacists have not been trained on all the vaccines, their risks, contraindications, emergency interventions for reactions, or reporting reactions to Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, and advising parents about the statute of limitations and instructions for filing a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
- Are they going to perform an exam at the pharmacy and take the child’s temperature to make sure they don’t have a fever since fever is a contraindication to giving many vaccines as noted in the CDC’s Vaccine Information Statements (VIS)?
- Will they screen if the child has a condition that makes them bruise or bleed easily or if they are taking aspirin?
- Will they know if a child has had a serious or a life-threatening reaction to any vaccine given in the past that would then make them unable to receive future vaccinations?