Senate hears immunization bill amendments and proposals to let pharmacists provide PrEP/PEP

The Senate Health & Welfare Committee reviewed testimony on H.545 and related amendments that would change membership of the Vermont Immunization Advisory Council, clarify pharmacy technician roles, and expand pharmacist authority for some immunizations and (in a separate amendment under consideration) HIV prevention medications.

Michelle Wade of the Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association supported the House-passed version of H.545 and urged APRN and registered-nurse representation on the immunization advisory council to ensure that policy recommendations reflect frontline clinical implementation.

Laura Byrne, executive director of the HIV/HCV Resource Center, urged the committee to allow pharmacists to prescribe and administer PrEP and PEP, pointing to states where pharmacists’ authority has expanded access in rural and underserved areas. Byrne said preventing a single HIV infection can yield large lifetime-cost savings and argued Vermont should not rely on unstable federal protections.

Andrew Garcia, a clinical pharmacist at the UVM Medical Center, described frequent real-world barriers that delay time-sensitive PEP/PrEP starts (medication stockouts, insurer rules, steep out-of-pocket costs) and said pharmacist authority to initiate or substitute an effective regimen could make the difference between timely prevention and missed opportunity.

Legislative counsel also presented an Office of Professional Regulation requested amendment that removes the board executive officers from the Council membership list but retains APRN and pharmacist representatives, clarifies pharmacy-technician administration (technicians may administer immunizations only when a trained pharmacist is present), and deletes a reversion clause that would have restored prior language in 2031. Committee members asked counsel to return with final language at the next markup.