Florida board expected to decide on COVID-19 vaccines at pharmacies Tuesday

ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida board that oversees pharmacies is expected to decide on Tuesday whether properly certified pharmacy workers can give COVID-19 vaccines or RSV vaccines.

The Florida Board of Pharmacy is meeting virtually at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The move comes after a federal vaccine panel declined to recommend COVID-19 shot guidelines last week, even to high-risk patients or seniors.

The decision was meant to leave the decision up to doctors and individual patients. However, it also leads to confusion, as different states have different guidelines on who can administer a vaccine.

[WATCH: Here’s why it’s difficult to get the COVID vaccine in Florida]

“While pharmacists are generally considered health care providers, states have the authority to regulate their scope of practice and in some states, they may not be able to assess and administer vaccines,” said Jennifer Kates, senior vice president with health care policy group KFF. “In such cases, it could be that an individual would need to go to their doctor for a COVID-19 vaccine or get a prescription from their doctor to go to a pharmacy. We are likely to see confusion and a bit of a patchwork.”

Florida is one of the states that has not yet set up guidelines for administering COVID-19 vaccines at pharmacies.

“Under current Florida regulations, pharmacists are not allowed to provide vaccinations without a prescription from a health care provider like a physician,” Kates said. “That means a person wouldn’t be able to walk into a pharmacy and get a COVID vaccine under the new recommendations with no prescription. However, a provider could write a prescription for the vaccine after discussing with a patient if the state followed these guidelines.”

For the past month, News 6 viewers and readers have asked for help to find the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida.

News 6 reached out to several groups looking for answers.

Calls and emails to the Florida Department of Health were not returned. No current information about the vaccine is on the Department of Health website.

A spokesperson for CVS said it could offer COVID-19 vaccines to patients with an authorized prescription from a health care provider in Florida, or for MinuteClinic patients.

Appointments can be found at certain CVS pharmacies by going to the CVS website.

Meanwhile, Walgreens is still not offering the COVID-19 vaccine online through its vaccine portal. A spokesperson for Walgreens did not respond to our messages.

A spokesperson for AdventHealth says its CentraCare urgent care clinics also do not distribute the COVID-19 vaccine, and never have. However, primary care providers can prescribe the vaccine.

Kates says requiring a doctor to prescribe a shot creates an extra step that could limit who has access to the vaccine because they need to be able to go to the doctor.

However, insurance is expected to cover the vaccine once the prescription is issued.

“Under the Affordable Care Act, vaccines with a ‘shared clinical decision-making’ recommendation from CDC/ACIP are still generally required to be covered by private insurance plans at no cost,” Kates said. “This is also the case for Medicaid, under the Inflation Reduction Act. Separately, Medicare Part B is required to cover COVID-19 vaccines for free as well.

“The bottom line is that individuals will likely need to take an extra step to engage in shared decision making but the vaccine should be covered by insurance once that happens,” Kates said.

Kates said the CDC’s panel will also have to vote on whether the Vaccines for Children program will allow for COVID-19 shots.