MU Health Care to continue COVID-19 vaccination events after CDC committee’s vote
Marie Moyer
Editor’s note: This article has been clarified to say physicians will be available for consultation at vaccine events.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
After a CDC advisory committee vote Friday, only adults 65 and up or those sensitive to COVID-19 can get the vaccine directly. Everyone else must first consult their doctor.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted Friday to require patients under age 65 to consult a health care provider before getting the shot. The committee stopped short of requiring a prescription for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The consultation is meant for patients to understand the risk factors of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, with patients signing off on a consent form before getting the shot.
“We’re back to a place from like last year and beyond,” Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services spokesperson Austin Krohn said. “We’ve always given the risks and benefits of vaccines to our patients, they fill out paperwork, sign paperwork so they know what they’re getting into.”
MU Health Care, Boone Health and the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services do not expect the new rule to affect operations, with all providers having the option for a patient to consult with a doctor the same day during vaccination appointments. However, patients may need to have a doctor’s note before attending some walk-in clinics or pharmacies.
“If one’s receiving their vaccine at a pharmacy or, you know, opportunistically when they’re at their doctor’s office, that shared decision-making conversation, potentially a prescription for the pharmacy may be needed,” Family Medicine doctor with MU Health Care Margaret Day said.
Boone Health spokesperson Christian Basi adds that patients can consult with doctors regularly for a doctor’s note if needed.
“Patients are always welcome to communicate with their providers electronically via their patient portal or at their in-patient visits (whether virtual or face-to-face),” Basi said in a statement, “Our providers are happy to consult with their patients.”
The CDC however, has not clarified if consultations must be face-to-face for an approved doctor’s note.
Outside of a doctor’s note, people can self-attest that they are at high risk of getting sick from COVID-19 and get a shot. According to the CDC, conditions that would make someone at high risk for COVID-19 include diabetes, heart conditions and a history of smoking.
Eric Maze with MU Health Care said Monday that at MU’s upcoming flu shot and COVID-19 vaccine events this fall, clinicians will be available to provide consultations with patients looking to get a COVID-19 booster.
“This typically is the time of year when respiratory illnesses do tend to crop up, so it’s a good time to consider getting your COVID and flu vaccines,” Day said.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also considered requiring a prescription for the COVID-19 vaccine, but ultimately voted against it in a tiebreaking vote by committee chair Dr. Martin Kulldorff.
MU Health Care’s first fall vaccine drive-thru event will take place Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon inside the Madison Street Medical Building in Jefferson City.