r/publichealth • u/Lelo_B • 1d ago
NEWS CVS: COVID vaccines not available in 16 states following new RFK Jr. limits
https://www.axios.com/2025/08/29/cvs-covid-vaccines-kennedy-rfk53
u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 1d ago
This sucks, and we absolutely need to address it, but I would urge everyone not to panic too much and turn it into action instead. We have the opportunity to fix this and even come out the other side in a better place than we are right now.
Here is the general idea that our group, Organizing for a Better Tomorrow, is working on right now:
ACIP is required to meet before these 16 states can provide vaccinations;
the current ACIP is illegitimate. HELP chairman Bill Cassidy agrees with us: https://www.help.senate.gov/rep/newsroom/press/cassidy-calls-for-vaccine-committee-meeting-to-be-postponed-following-cdc-departures
therefore, the former 17 members of ACIP that RFK Jr. fired must be reinstated. We already have a Senate bill introduced for that: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2483
Weâre going to need to call on the senators on the HELP committee to urgently advance/pass this legislation. This is awful news on the surface, but it may actually give us a decent shot at getting the old ACIP back.
Independent of that, ACIP is scheduled to meet on September 18th either way: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/29/2025-16706/meeting-of-the-advisory-committee-on-immunization-practices
Even if itâs still RFKâs people, weâll be contacting them and doing public comment just the same as always. It doesnât look like theyâre planning on making any significant changes as it stands, but we have to preemptively prevent that anyway.
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u/_Saucey_Sauce_ 1d ago
This will cause epidemics across the country.
But hey! The CDC isn't reporting outbreaks, so that means it doesn't exist! đ«
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u/Tiger_grrrl 18h ago
There are numerous sources collecting wastewater data to extrapolate into maps and graphs: the CDC ceased releasing updates a few weeks ago as the summer wave started ramping up (back to ole Rumpâs âit you donât test, you donât have cases!â) The epidemiologists estimate weâre about at last winterâs level, with about 700,000 new infections PER DAY. This is the website I consult: PANDEMIC MITIGATION COLLABORATIVE: Dashboard
*also, several family members and I were able to get appointments for the new booster at CVS later next week, where they have shipments of Pfizer incoming đGet a shot soon if you want it, as RFKjrâs stated goal is to ELIMINATE COVID vaccines entirely. Eugenics at work đ
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u/hisglasses66 1d ago
It's endemic in the United States. Not an epidemic.
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u/ominous_squirrel 1d ago
Endemic requires predictable seasons or geographies of spread. Iâve only seen vibes based declarations that Covid is endemic. Can you provide a peer reviewed source making this statement?
Ending access to vaccines will absolutely move Covid into greater unpredictable epidemic spread
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u/hisglasses66 1d ago edited 1d ago
OP had a vibes based statement- and I need a source? Kinda bullshit, no?
edit: Nevermind! I'm learning this all feelings based. Not data-driven.
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u/_Saucey_Sauce_ 23h ago
We are in a thread about vaccines for covid not being available. When they further become unavailable countrywide under this administration, there will be epidemic outbreaks. Where are you not following?
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u/hisglasses66 23h ago
Where are you not following? The article clearly shows the vaccine is available in all but 3 states. Just call for a script. So from my standpoint - you have no idea what you're talking about and are not reading the data correctly. That's just a fact. You're objectively wrong in your statement.
If you want a vaccine, call your doctor and get a script. That's all it says. And that's ONLY at CVS pharmacies. Please be real and don't spread misinformation.
Do you have proof not having a vaccine at this point will lead to an epidemic? Please source.
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u/BrightBlueBauble 4h ago
I donât have to âcall for a scriptâ for any of my other vaccines though.
Doctorsâ offices are already overburdened with calls and messages from idiot patients who canât understand basic things and lonely patients who just want attention, I shouldnât need to add to this to get a prescription for an over-the-counter vaccine.
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u/_Saucey_Sauce_ 1d ago
It's largely endemic and will become more so as we continue to work against and get ahead of it, but without vaccinations we're going to see major outbreaks of epidemic proportions.
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u/hisglasses66 1d ago
You can get a vaccine.... please just go ask for a script, it's literally a phone call. We don't know how to read data, apparently.
Vaccination rates weren't even that high in 2025
Weekly COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard | COVIDVaxView | CDC
COVID-19 vaccination coverage estimates among adults 18 years and older are based on data from CDC's National Immunization SurveyâAdult COVID Module. Estimates of vaccination coverage are based on respondent self-report. Data and charts are available here.
- As of April 26, 2025, 23.0% (95% Confidence Interval: 22.5%â23.4%) of adults reported having received the 2024â25 COVID-19 vaccine.
- 7.0% (5.5%â8.4%) reported they definitely will get a vaccine.
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u/_Saucey_Sauce_ 23h ago
Great, get vaccinated against it while it's still available. You completely have missed the context of this conversation, it seems.
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u/Tibreaven Infection Control MD 1d ago
Just as a point of order: This is partially the CDC's fault for not putting the 2025 COVID vaccine on the schedule, but also a result of state-specific laws preventing the administration of vaccines not on the CDC vaccine schedule by pharmacists, without a specific prescribing providers uh, prescription.
If this impacts you, your state could also be fixing this issue if they felt like it, which most won't due to regulatory inertia.
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u/Raise_A_Thoth 1d ago
Just as a point of order: This is partially the CDC's fault for not putting the 2025 COVID vaccine on the schedule
That was a result of RFK Jr's orders, though. He's the one who ordered a rescheduling, and the CDC falls under the HHS.
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u/sparklesparklefizz 1d ago
So are we going to need a prescription to get the shot at any pharmacy? This is absolutely insane.
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u/Tibreaven Infection Control MD 1d ago
In those states, non-CDC scheduled vaccines require a prescription from a physician, yes. This rule ostensibly exists so that for non-standard vaccines, it ensures patients notify their physician to explain why they need it (think travel vaccines or other unusual things).
Hopefully most PCPs are happy to write one without a visit, but it's still a pointless barrier to what should be a routine vaccine.
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u/ominous_squirrel 1d ago
So many low-income, uninsured, catastrophically insured or otherwise vulnerable people frequently do not have simple access to a PCP. The public health terminology for what RFK Jr is doing is called social murder
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953621007097
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1d ago
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u/sunnynina 23h ago
Hi, can you go over the autocorrects in your comment? It's quite difficult to read.
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u/WhatABeautifulMess 22h ago
Apologies, deleted. It wasnât contributing to the conversation anyway.
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u/IntelligentStyle402 1d ago
Yup! More money shelled out, then? My co-pay for a Doctors visit is -$55 only in America?
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u/Liz_LemonLime 22h ago
Something tells me the states who decide to fix this (if possible) and those who donât could be color coded red and blue. (Just like the ones who sued for our public health dollars back and the ones who chose silence.)
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u/LustfuIAngel 23h ago
Itâs even worse than this. Even in states like Texas, only certain areas actually have them. Some pharmacies will be getting them sometime in September but most pharmacies have no clue if/when they will get them
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u/iago_williams 23h ago
I'm in one of those states. I was able to schedule at Walgreens. You will need a doctor's prescription regardless of age or qualifying conditions, unfortunately. That's because of the standing order restrictions on pharmacists. Without ACIP sign-off, they don't have a standing order to dispense the vaccines without a scrip.
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u/rotervogel1231 1d ago
You know how you'll be able to tell when another pandemic hits, whether it's caused by COVID or a new disease that hasn't emerged yet? When other countries close their borders to Americans.
I also envision other countries requiring proof of vaccination to enter, especially after next month. I strongly suspect that Brain Worm intends to announce that vaccines cause autism and essentially ban all of them nationwide.
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u/TemporaryKoala4442 23h ago
Iâm personally holding this corrupt MD responsible for all the people who will suffer or die because of his lack of integrity and his betrayal of the Hippocratic Oath.
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u/Right-Initiative-699 22h ago edited 8h ago
I went for the flu shot yesterday and was told to come again at the end of September for Covid since they didnât have it. I live in NYC
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1d ago
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u/rhinoballet 1d ago
State laws vary on what makes a vaccine eligible to be administered at a pharmacy vs by a physician. RFK kept it off the CDC schedule, and in some states that means it has to come from a physician's office.
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u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 1d ago
This isnât directly related to RFK Jr.
ACIP didnât vote on Covid vaccines in June like usual, and these particular states have laws that limit pharmacists from being able to administer vaccines that the CDC doesnât vote on.
But this will be fixed (if not sooner) when ACIP meets on September 18th
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u/kbell321 1d ago
You think the newly appointed (by Kennedy) ACIP is going to âfixâ this? Bless your heartâŠ
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u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 1d ago
You realize his FDA is the organization that just approved the current vaccines, right?
His ACIP is expected to apply the same rules of 65+/underlying conditions, and keep the same self-attest pathway open including the option for additional doses.
And what I expect matters more than what you think because this is literally what I do full time
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u/kbell321 2h ago
Are you a Pollyanna in the rest of your life or do you only apply it to RFK and the HHS under Trump?
They âapprovedâ the current vaccines in such a way as to make it much more difficult for people to get. They will continue to do this with Covid and all vaccines until we are facing a generally unvaccinated population and a resurgence of illnesses that have been non existent in the US for decades.
Thatâs the goal, thatâs what RFK does, ask the people of Samoa.
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u/666PaperStreet 16h ago
This is so insanely stupid. Offer it up to the public. Let people do the research and decide if they wanna do it or not. Not at all shocking that this is coming from the âyour body, my choiceâ crowd.
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u/RadEmily 14h ago
Hopefully some online providers will pop up offering a Rx with a click through consultation, which already exists for other popular low risk Rxs. But these hurdles will certainly deter a lot of people.
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u/odahcama 8h ago
Will it be available separately through the IHS, does anyone know? Or will it still be unavailable based on the state the tribe resides in? Thinking about our tribal communities in my state that had the highest death rates at the start of the pandemic but made incredible strides and saved so many people through vaccination
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u/candygirl200413 MPH Epidemiology 41m ago
omg so my friend was saying she had to drive to NJ (she's currently pregnant) and I didn't get why, not me about to join her đđ
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u/lurkertiltheend 1d ago
Can confirm, I have to travel over state lines to get it next week. Fingers crossed they will give it to me đŹ