Minnesota pharmacists and healthcare providers have broad latitude to dispense COVID-19 vaccines, regardless of shifting guidance from the federal authorities, public health experts say.
That was true even before Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order Monday meant to reassure Minnesotans that state officials are working with providers, pharmacies and insurers to protect access to the vaccine.
“I don’t think that [the order], as written, expands what pharmacists are able to do in the state of Minnesota,” said Ann Philbrick, a professor at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. “I do think that it provides a little bit of clarity, as well as maybe some recognition to the issues that are currently playing out in today’s society.”
In June, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee that makes recommendations on federal vaccine policy. Last month, he fired and replaced the agency’s director with one of his top advisors, triggering a wave of rancor and resignations.
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Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration, which also falls under Kennedy’s authority, approved updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters but with new restrictions on who could get them. The restrictions, limiting boosters to the elderly or those with specific conditions, were a break from previous U.S. policy, which recommended annual COVID-19 shots for all Americans 6 months and up.
Confusion around the new FDA restrictions and a lack of guidance from the CDC’s advisory committee has led pharmacies in some states, such as Florida, to require prescriptions for the shot, even for seniors. Minnesotans’ access to COVID-19 vaccines is well protected under state law, though, public health officials said.
Aaron Patterson, interim executive director of the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, pointed to state statute section 151.01, subdivision 27, which says the “practice of pharmacy” includes “initiating, ordering, and administering influenza and COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 vaccines authorized or approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration to all eligible individuals three years of age and older.”
Experts see the governor’s executive order as a way to formalize coordination between the state and the healthcare industry and assuage fears, rather than outlining a policy shift.
The FDA’s recent restriction limiting access to those under the age of 65 who don’t have one of the approved conditions shouldn’t prevent providers and pharmacists in Minnesota from offering them to others, said Dr. Rebecca Wurtz of the University of Minnesota.
“Officially, prescribing a drug/vaccine for a patient when it is not FDA approved for that patient group is called ‘off-label use’ and that is common and legal. And, with the governor’s [executive order] and insurers’ buy-in, it will be covered by insurance,” said Wurtz, an infectious disease specialist and physician.
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Neither state law nor the executive order requires insurers to cover off-label use of vaccines, but the state’s largest insurer in Minnesota said it plans to continue covering the vaccines as they have in the past despite uncertainty at the federal level.
“Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota will continue to cover COVID-19 vaccinations for our members age six months and older. COVID-19 vaccines are covered at no cost to members when administered by an in-network healthcare provider or pharmacy,” Jim McManus, director of public relations, said in a statement to MinnPost.
BCBS is the largest health insurance provider in the state by market share, according to the Minnesota Department of Health, taking in over 30% of all premium revenue in the state.
The second-largest insurer, UCare, which takes about a quarter of all premium revenue, did not reply to MinnPost’s messages seeking comment.
Although it is no longer as fearsome as it was years ago, COVID-19 is still spreading and still killing those who are uniquely vulnerable or unfortunate.
The CDC estimates that between Oct. 1, 2024, and Aug. 30, 2025, there have been as many as 19.1 million COVID cases, leading to up to 4.4 million related doctor’s visits and up to 510,000 hospitalizations. Somewhere between 39,000 and 58,000 people in the U.S. were killed by the virus over this time period, CDC data shows.
In Minnesota, the death rate from COVID-19 is below the national average but about 14,870 people are still estimated to have died from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Johns Hopkins data also shows nearly three-quarters of Minnesotans are fully vaccinated.
While the CDC immunization practices advisory committee is influential on insurers’ decisions on what they will or won’t cover, it does not have its own power to set vaccine policy. The FDA, on the other hand, does have the power to not approve next year’s batch of COVID boosters. Without FDA approval for at least some groups, Minnesotan health providers would find it harder, if not impossible, to order and administer these shots in the way they have been for five years.
The FDA’s recent approach of restricting which populations can get the boosters reflects heightened skepticism about the ongoing risks of COVID-19 and the need for yearly booster shots from Health Secretary Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, both outspoken critics of wide-scale vaccinations.
However, there hasn’t been any indication that the FDA under President Trump will completely take away access to the vaccine. After his health secretary was grilled by the Senate, Trump held an Oval Office event touting the importance of the COVID vaccine that was developed during his first term and warned against dismissing immunizations out of hand.
“You have to be very careful when you say that some people don’t have to be vaccinated,” he said.
Editor’s note: This story mentions Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, which sponsors MinnPost’s race and health equity coverage. The company does not weigh in on news coverage.
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