{"id":25501,"date":"2026-06-21T08:49:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T08:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/21\/nj-just-showed-america-how-to-protect-vaccine-access-opinion-bergen-record\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T08:49:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T08:49:42","slug":"nj-just-showed-america-how-to-protect-vaccine-access-opinion-bergen-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/21\/nj-just-showed-america-how-to-protect-vaccine-access-opinion-bergen-record\/","title":{"rendered":"NJ just showed America how to protect vaccine access | Opinion – Bergen Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a parent takes their child to the pediatrician and asks, \u201cIs my child up to date on vaccines?\u201d they deserve a straight answer. They\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0need a law degree,\u00a0their own\u00a0subscription to\u00a0the latest medical journals or an affinity\u00a0for perusing\u00a0the\u00a0federal\u00a0register\u00a0to get one.
And in New Jersey, thanks to legislation signed in January, they\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0need any of those things.\u00a0
Until recently, New Jersey\u00a0based\u00a0its immunization guidance\u00a0on\u00a0recommendations from the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. That\u00a0approach\u00a0anchored\u00a0federal guidance\u00a0in science,\u00a0demonstrable\u00a0medical evidence and\u00a0a\u00a0predictable\u00a0framework.\u00a0However, over\u00a0the past year, national vaccine recommendations\u00a0have\u00a0shifted\u00a0in ways that have left families and health care providers alike confused about what is covered, what is recommended and what children\u00a0actually need.\u00a0
That uncertainty has not eased. Even as the public debate over vaccines has quieted in recent months, federal agencies are conducting a sweeping new research inquiry into vaccine safety<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 one that prominent, independent scientists have raised\u00a0serious questions\u00a0about. \u00a0
New Jersey moved swiftly and smartly in response.\u00a0Outgoing\u00a0Gov.\u00a0Phil\u00a0Murphy signed S4894\/A6166, decoupling the state\u2019s immunization policy from sole reliance on federal guidance<\/a> and, when creating vaccine policy,\u00a0directing\u00a0the New Jersey Department of Health, or NJDOH,\u00a0to\u00a0consult the most respected medical bodies in the country: the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Physicians.\u00a0Shortly thereafter,\u00a0Gov. Mikie Sherrill\u00a0announced\u00a0the state would join\u00a0the Northeast Public Health Collaborative<\/a> to\u00a0establish\u00a0regional\u00a0vaccine\u00a0guidelines\u00a0for New Jersey patients. Her administration additionally mandated that state insurers provide continuous, out-of-pocket free coverage for all routine and seasonal preventative vaccines.<\/a>
In practice, this means a New Jersey family whose insurer might otherwise have used shifting federal guidance as a reason to deny coverage now has clarity about\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0covered. It means pediatricians from Bergen County to Atlantic City can give their patients\u00a0consistent, evidence-based\u00a0medical\u00a0guidance \u2014 not a version that\u00a0risks\u00a0shifting\u00a0with each successive\u00a0Administration.\u00a0
New Jersey\u2019s life sciences \u2014\u00a0the research-based biopharmaceutical,\u00a0medical technology, and diagnostics\u00a0companies that discover and manufacture\u00a0these life-saving\u00a0vaccines\u00a0\u2014\u00a0continue to find new, innovative ways to treat, cure \u2014 and prevent \u2014 diseases and medical conditions. Our members have spent decades\u00a0and invested billions of dollars\u00a0in the scientific research,\u00a0the\u00a0advanced manufacturing\u00a0infrastructure, and the supply\u00a0and distribution\u00a0chains that make routine immunization possible. We know what vaccines cost \u2014 in investment, in research, in years of clinical development \u2014 and we know what they save: lives.\u00a0
New Jersey has a long tradition of leading in life sciences. We have the highest concentration of scientists and engineers per square mile in the country. Our biopharmaceutical companies\u00a0generate\u00a0$120.9 billion\u00a0in annual economic\u00a0activity\u00a0and support hundreds of thousands of\u00a0New Jersey\u00a0jobs. That ecosystem exists because of sustained public trust in science and sustained public investment in health. Vaccine access is part of that foundation. When it erodes \u2014 when parents\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0get straight answers about coverage, when recommendations change without clear clinical justification, when the system creates confusion where there should be clarity \u2014 we all pay the cost.\u00a0
Other states should take note. New Jersey\u2019s approach does not require choosing between state authority and federal partnership. It requires only that vaccine guidance be grounded in the best available science and that families who want to vaccinate their children can do so without unnecessary barriers. That is a standard any state can meet.\u00a0
The most powerful thing a parent can do right now is talk to their pediatrician. Ask what vaccines your child needs. Ask what is covered. And when our public health system works the\u00a0way\u00a0it is supposed to \u2014 when a governor signs legislation to protect access, when a Department of Health consults the right experts, when insurers remove cost barriers \u2014those systems\u00a0then protect\u00a0our\u00a0families.\u00a0
New Jersey got this right. The families who depend on that decision deserve to know it.\u00a0
Chrissy Buteas is president and chief executive officer of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey, a trade association\u00a0representing\u00a0the state\u2019s research-based biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a parent takes their child to the pediatrician and asks, \u201cIs my child up to date on vaccines?\u201d they deserve a straight answer. They\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0need a law degree,\u00a0their own\u00a0subscription to\u00a0the latest medical journals or an affinity\u00a0for perusing\u00a0the\u00a0federal\u00a0register\u00a0to get one.And in New Jersey, thanks to legislation signed in January, they\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0need any of those things.\u00a0Until recently, New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}