Key Points:

• Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order to ensure COVID vaccines remain available

• Federal guidelines now require prescription for COVID vaccine, limiting access

• Unvaccinated individuals face higher hospitalization and death risks from COVID

Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order late Sept. 11 to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines remain available for Arizonans — regardless of new directives from the federal government.

But it won’t necessarily mean that insurance companies will pay for them.

Her action allows the state Department of Health Services to issue a “standing order” that can serve as a prescription for the vaccine.

That comes after the Food and Drug Administration scrapped existing guidelines, which allowed virtually anyone to get the vaccine without a prescription. 

Now the federal guidance allows only those 65 and older or those younger who have at least one high-risk health condition to be immunized without a prescription.

All that resulted in Banner Health, the state’s largest hospital network, deciding it would stop administering the latest COVID vaccine. And its doctors would no longer write prescriptions.

With Thursday’s action, that is no longer relevant.

The governor’s order allows the health department to issue blanket prescriptions for pharmacists and health care providers to administer the vaccine “in accordance with nationally recognized professional clinical guidance that ensures the broadest possible access.”

“We are taking action to protect the health care freedom of Arizonans,” the governor said in a prepared statement.

“Vaccines are critical tools that safeguard public health and prevent serious illness,” she continued. “Arizonans and their doctors deserve the freedom to access the COVID vaccine if it is right for them.”

And Hobbs said that, with her order, “we are following the science and ensuring that Arizonans have access to vaccines to keep themselves and their families safe.”

Hobbs is making it clear that she believes that the changes in federal guidance about who can and cannot get vaccinated started after vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the secretary of Health and Human Services.

“This limited approval is in conflict with both scientific, peer-reviewed evidence and the evidence-based recommendations of trusted healthcare professional organizations,” she wrote in her executive order. “All available scientific, trusted, and peer-reviewed evidence indicates that the currently available COVID-19 vaccines are safe, and are the most effective way of preventing serious illness, hospitalization, and death.”

In the press release, the Governor’s Office specifically said the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends COVID vaccines for people 18 and younger. The release also cites a recommendation from the American Academy of Family Physicians that adults 18 and older get vaccinated.

And then there’s the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which believes that pregnant women should be inoculated.

The order could result in a change in availability at some pharmacies.

CVS had previously announced it would offer the vaccine only in certain states based on what the chain says is required. Arizona is currently not one of them.

That, however, still leaves the question of cost.

The new federal guidelines say that, for most people, the vaccines are no longer recommended. And insurance companies generally do not cover vaccines that are not considered medically necessary.

Some states, like Connecticut, have laws and regulations that require insurance policies to cover such vaccinations, regardless of the actions of the FDA or the Centers for Disease Control.

Gubernatorial press aide Christian Slater said Hobbs is issuing no such directive.

Instead, she is telling the Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions to “coordinate with and encourage all health plans under its regulatory authority to continue to cover COVID-19 vaccines.”

Press aide Christian Slater said Hobbs, unlike other governors, has no such authority.

“But it’s still important to ensure that people have access to the vaccine … and have the freedom to make the choice,” he said.

The state health department reports that unvaccinated individuals age 5 and older were seven times more likely to need to be hospitalized than those who were vaccinated with an updated booster. And their risk of dying was 8.8 times as high.

Other states have made moves similar to what Hobbs is doing.

The California Department of Public Health said on Sept. 10 that it is endorsing the recommendations of the same organizations that Hobbs is now citing. That includes specific recommendations to vaccinate children between 6 months and 2 years old, as well as people who are pregnant and lactating.