By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed legislation to expand vaccine access in Illinois, but a Republican lawmaker and medical doctor said the bill is an example of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

The governor signed House Bill 767 in Chicago Tuesday.

“We are doing this because the Trump administration has upended the advisory committee on immunization practices,” Pritzker said.

The legislation expands vaccine access and empowers the Illinois Department of Public Health to offer vaccine guidelines through its Immunization Advisory Committee.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, joined Pritzker in criticizing actions by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“When Secretary Kennedy fired all 17 members of the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s] vaccine advisory committee this summer, as the governor mentioned, it was a direct attack on public health and the legitimacy of sound medical advice,” Morgan said.

The General Assembly passed an amended version of HB 767 near the end of the fall veto session Oct. 30.

During floor debate, medical doctor and state Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, said Republicans supported a pharmacy benefit bill during subject matter and committee hearings.

“We were all on board, both sides, and now we have a bill that is obvious to me to be a Trump Derangement Syndrome bill,” Hauter said.

HB 767 requires state-regulated health insurance providers to cover “vaccines and related administration,” even if they extend beyond federally-recommended schedules. It also reduces the minimum age from 7 to 3 for pharmacist administration of certain vaccines.

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra thanked lawmakers for passing the measure.

“It strengthens the role of IDPH’s Immunization Advisory Committee, ensuring that leading experts in our state continue to inform and guide our vaccine policies,” Vohra said. “It empowers this committee to inform me and future public health directors in issuing science-based recommendations that protect our health today and prepare us for the challenges of tomorrow.”

Hauter asked if it was a good idea to put vaccination policy in the hands of an agency he said acted in an authoritarian manner during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“IDPH, mandating COVID vaccinations, taking away people’s jobs, their livelihoods, their business, their schooling; they couldn’t travel. Businesses were shut down,” Hauter said.

The Morton Republican said earlier this year that IDPH officials do not have a lot of credibility after “they screwed up COVID so badly.”

In September, Pritzker signed an executive order to establish the Statewide Vaccine Access Initiative, calling for the IDPH director to issue a standing order to allow eligible providers in pharmacy and other clinical settings to administer vaccines recommended by IDPH.

Illinois health officials defied recent CDC guidance by recommending that all adults get the COVID-19 vaccine this fall.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a White House Cabinet meeting Tuesday that he and other HHS leaders have changed the trajectory of the agency “towards public health and away from the tradition of serving the mercantile interests of the medical-industrial complex and the big pharmaceutical companies.”

Greg Bishop and Catrina Barker contributed to this story.