Walz, health officials seek to secure access to COVID vaccines for Minnesota amid changing CDC guidelines
For more than five years, the government and doctors have recommended that getting the COVID vaccine could not only save your life, but also help protect your family's lives.
The official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation, as late as June 2025, was that all Americans six months and older should get the vaccine. But under President Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the recommendations have changed dramatically.
The CDC, along with the Food and Drug Administration, now recommends the COVID vaccines for people 65 and over as well as for people ages 5 to 64 with at least one underlying condition that increases their risk of severe COVID.
The commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health, Dr. Brooke Cunningham, says the department is looking at the information coming out of the HHS with a lot of concern.
"The science is clear. The benefit is there. Particularly, I want to lift up for our youngest Minnesotans, those children under two years of age. When you look at that group, that group has a high incidence of hospitalization from COVID," said Cunningham.
Through an executive order, Gov. Tim Walz has given the Minnesota Department of Health until Sept. 24 to develop ways for Minnesotans to continue to have access to the vaccine and to make public guidelines that all Minnesota's doctors, pharmacists, and patients need to be aware of.
Walz is also asking the Health Department to work with insurers to limit the costs of the vaccines.
Currently, GoodRX estimates the cost of the vaccine without insurance is over $200.
On a 50,000-member Facebook group that was created in the early days of COVID, called Minneapolis Vaccine Hunters, people have written that their appointments at local pharmacies have been canceled because of the new CDC guidelines. Others wrote they were told they could get the shot, but that because of the new CDC recommendation, insurance wouldn't pay for it.
WCCO reached out to CVS and Walgreens for comment on canceled appointments and vaccine availability.
"COVID-19 vaccines are currently available at Walgreens in Minnesota," a spokesperson for the company said. "In accordance with FDA approval, we are offering the vaccine in Minnesota to all adults ages 65 years and older, as well as to individuals under age 65 with at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19."
A CVS spokesperson said "state pharmacy laws govern where we can currently vaccinate." Minnesota is one of the 41 states in which CVS offers the vaccine.