New Global Healthy Living Foundation Report Urges States to Protect Pharmacy Vaccine Access Amid Federal Regulatory Uncertainty
State laws that make pharmacist immunization depend on federal ACIP action can reduce or restrict adults' access to vaccines at their neighborhood pharmacies. The report lays out a three-tier legal framework states can adopt now.
UPPER NYACK, N.Y., October 19, 2026--As federal vaccine policy remains in flux, a new report from the Global Healthy Living Foundation (GHLF) urges state lawmakers to protect adults' ability to get vaccinated by pharmacists at their local pharmacy. The report, Why States Should Protect Patient Access to Pharmacist Immunization During Federal Regulatory Uncertainty, finds that many state laws make pharmacist vaccination depend on action by the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an official publication of its recommendations, a state list, a protocol, or a prescription. When the federal process stalls, those dependencies can block pharmacy access to FDA-approved vaccines because pharmacists cannot immunize.
Written by Robert Popovian, PharmD, MS, GHLF's Chief Science Policy Officer, the report documents how important community pharmacies have become to adult vaccination in the United States. It then lays out a ranked, three-tier legal framework that states can adopt now, without waiting for federal litigation to be resolved.
The timing reflects a year of federal disruption. In June 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services removed all 17 sitting ACIP members and began appointing replacements. In March 2026, a federal court stayed the challenged appointments and votes; the government has appealed, and the litigation is ongoing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) canceled ACIP's March and June 2026 meetings because of the litigation. According to the report, the hardest problem is prospective: who will review a new vaccine, a revised age group, or a future seasonal formulation in a timely way if the ordinary ACIP process cannot function consistently?
Key findings
Pharmacies are a primary site of adult vaccination.
Pharmacies are close and easy to reach.
Pharmacies are most available in underserved communities.
Extra regulatory or administrative steps instituted by states are associated with lower vaccine uptake.
Pharmacy vaccination costs less.
Missed doses are costly.
"Adults across the country have come to rely on their neighborhood pharmacist for flu, COVID-19, RSV, and shingles vaccines," said Robert Popovian, PharmD, MS, Chief Science Policy Officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation. "When state law ties that pharmacist's authority to a federal advisory process that has been disrupted, patients can lose timely access to an FDA-approved vaccine for reasons that have nothing to do with science or safety. States do not need to wait for the courts or for Washington to fix this."