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UPDATE: 7/26/2023 - SB 2486 was enacted. Chapter 306, effective 7/18/2023.
UPDATE: 7/18/2023 - SB 2486 was signed by the Governor Tina Kotek on 7/18/2023.
UPDATE: 6/21/2023 - SB 2486 passed the Senate by vote of 18 Ayes, 7 Nays on 6/21/2023.
UPDATE: 3/14/2023 - SB 2486 passed the House by a vote of 48 Ayes, 9 Nays on 3/14/2023.
UPDATE: 1/31/2023 - SB 2486 was heard in a hearing in the House Behavioral Health and Health Care Committee on 1/31/2023.
SB 2486 was introduced on 1/9/2023 and referred to the House Behavioral Health and Health Care Committee on 1/11/2023. It was sponsored by Representative Rob Nosse. SB 2486 authorizes pharmacy technicians to administer vaccines to persons 7 years old and older.
Oregon pharmacy technicians are required to be at least 18 years old and holding a high school diploma or GED.
NVIC is opposed to this bill as trivializes very real vaccine risks and serious reactions by allowing the administration of potentially life-threatening vaccines for children by pharmacy technicians. This bill undermines the doctor patient relationship and removes critical health history screenings prior to vaccination.
Below are listed some of the reasons to not vaccinate that are recorded in federally required vaccine information statement. It is unlikely that a pharmacist would catch these problems:
- Will pharmacists and pharmacy technicians screen for things like allergic reactions to ingredients in the vaccine and are they going to cover all these ingredients of every vaccine?
- Will they check if a child is allergic to yeast (contraindication in HPV vaccine)?
- 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 contraindicated for some vaccines in the VIS statements?
- Are they going to know if the child has a weakened immune system due to disease (such as cancer or HIV/AIDS), medical treatments (such as radiation, immunotherapy, steroids, or chemotherapy), 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?
- Will they screen if the child has a condition that makes them bruise or bleed easily, if they might be pregnant (some vaccines cannot be given in pregnancy), or if they are taking aspirin?
- Will they know if a child has recently had a transfusion or if they have ever had Guillain-Barre syndrome post vaccination?
- Will they know if a child has had a serious or a life-threatening reaction to any vaccine?
Most pharmacies and grocery stores don’t have lifesaving defibrillators like they do in doctors’ offices when life-threatening reactions to vaccines occur. Will pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have the equipment and training to be able to tell the difference between cardiac arrest, anaphylaxis, fainting, and act accordingly to save the lives of children who react at the time of vaccination?
Vaccines, just like all pharmaceutical products, can cause injury and death in some people. As of September 1, 2023, The United States Government has paid out more than $5 billion dollars to vaccine victims through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). As of 8/25/2023, There were 46,093 deaths and 2,518,732 adverse events reported to the US government's Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System.
There is no doubt the pharmacy groups will support this bill, but it presents a serious conflict of interest because of the financial benefits they will receive if this bill passes.
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 $58.4 billion by 2024 and pharmacies stand to increase their profits substantially by allowing pharmacy technicians to put those shots into customers.
This conflict is compounded by the fact that pharmacy employees will have no liability for the injuries and deaths caused by the vaccines they administer. 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.
https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/HB2486 - text, status, and history of SB 2486
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