The Legislature convened a 30-day special session on Monday, September 28, focused primarily on budget and COVID issues. Seizing on the opportunity to pursue an NACDS initiative to make waivers permanent, NACDS and the Louisiana Alliance of Retail Pharmacy (LARP) persuaded Senator Regina Ashford Barrow (D) to file an immunization bill lowering the age for pharmacists to vaccinate without a prescription order to three and older to align with the federal PREP Act declaration. The current arbitrary age limits set in the statute are 7 years or older for influenza and all other vaccines, 17 years or older.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.