Illinois to issue its own vaccine guidelines
[September 19, 2025]
By Peter Hancock
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois is among a growing list of states that are
issuing their own vaccine guidelines that could supersede those of the
federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gov. JB Pritzker issued an executive order this month directing the
Illinois Department of Public Health to work with other state agencies
to develop vaccine guidelines.
Specifically, Pritzker’s directive calls on IDPH Director Sameer Vohra,
in consultation with the Illinois Immunization Advisory Council, to
issue “standing orders” that authorize eligible health care providers,
including pharmacists, to administer vaccines that IDPH deems
appropriate.
Those will include vaccines for seasonal respiratory illnesses such as
COVID-19, flu and RSV. They will also include routine child and adult
vaccines such as the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, and
Hepatitis B.
The standing orders will also spell out the authority providers will
have to administer vaccines across various age groups, based on IDPH
recommendations.
In a statement, Pritzker said he was responding to several recent
federal actions initiated by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Among those were the Food and Drug Administration’s decision in August
to rescind emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines. That
meant removing approval of the vaccine for children and adults ages 6
months to 64 years who have no underlying risk conditions. The latest
guidelines also removed a recommendation for vaccination for pregnant
patients.
Pritzker also noted Kennedy’s recent firing of top CDC administrators,
including the agency’s director Susan Monarez, as well as the abrupt
dismissal of the entire board of CDC’s Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices.
“This is about making sure no family in Illinois is left wondering if
they can protect themselves against preventable serious illness,”
Pritzker said in a statement. “When the federal government abandons its
responsibility, Illinois will step up. We will follow the science,
listen to medical experts, and do everything in our power to enable
families to receive the care they need.”
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Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra is
pictured at a news conference in Springfield in May 2023. (Capitol
News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)
Action in other states
Pritzker’s executive order comes at the same time several other states
have taken action to shield their health care sectors from CDC’s
changing standards.
On Wednesday, the West Coast Health Alliance — made up of California,
Oregon, Washington and Hawaii — announced its own guidelines for flu
shots, COVID-19 vaccines and other common vaccination protocols.
According to published reports, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut,
Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania and
Virginia have also begun endorsing alternative vaccine recommendations.
In an email statement to Capitol News Illinois, IDPH said its guidelines
are not mandatory for health care providers or the general public.
“The goal is to provide practitioners and the public with the best
evidence-informed and science-based guidance so that they can make
appropriate clinical and personal decisions,” the agency said. “To the
extent that guidelines from the CDC are backed by scientific evidence
and review, IDPH will recommend them. If those guidelines deviate from
those standards, IDPH will offer appropriate guidance to Illinois
providers and families.”
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government
coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily
by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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