The New Mexico Department of Health is responding after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday that it would begin to allow individual-based decision-making to COVID-19 vaccination, allowing for anybody to get the vaccination, covered by insurance, without a prescription.
Individual-based decision-making means the clinical decision to vaccinate is based on patient characteristics such as risk factors for underlying disease, instead of just taking age into account. It allows for coverage through all payment mechanisms and insurance plans regulated by the Affordable Care Act, according to a news release from the CDC.
In New Mexico, this means the NMDOH can purchase the vaccine for statewide providers under the Vaccine Purchase Act, allowing its availability for children, according to an email statement from NMDOH Communications Director Robert Nott.
“The CDC approval/adoption allows the New Mexico Department of Health to purchase the COVID vaccine for children immediately rather than waiting until the effective date of Senate Bill 3, which is 90 days post signature,” Nott told NM Political Report.
The CDC announcement comes less than a week after the New Mexico House and Senate passed a bill that, if signed by the governor, would amend the Vaccine Purchase Act. But, Senate Bill 3 would not go into effect until 90 days after it is signed by the governor. As NM Political Report previously reported, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham criticized Republicans for passing the bill along party lines, and she has yet to sign it.
If signed into law, SB 3 also allows the department to consider other medical professional organizations in establishing guidelines for vaccination requirements and recommendations.
Many states, including New Mexico, had previously followed federal guidelines on vaccine policy but several states, including New Mexico, took unprecedented actions earlier this year to allow for state-based policies after the Trump administration abruptly fired public health leaders and replaced them with vaccine skeptics.
The CDC announcement negates this aspect of the bill, allowing for the NMDOH to purchase the vaccine for kids immediately instead of waiting 90 days.
Nott said NMDOH is still waiting to hear how much the vaccinations will cost.