New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s recently introduced 2027 budget includes language (Page 103) that would allow her to grab control over the recommended vaccine schedule in New York, and bypass recent and future federal changes to the schedule. 

If passed, the proposal would allow the Governor to pick and choose vaccine recommendations from any organization whose position supports whatever the Governor wants to do. This is a blatant way to try and block any reform of the vaccine program by the federal government, and bypass the voters and the legislature to get it done.

The Autism Action Network fully supports the recent HHS withdrawal of routine use recommendations in children of the COVID, influenza, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis ACWY, meningitis B, RSV and rotavirus shots, and the reduction of the recommended number of HPV shots from 2 to 1. All these products remain available to all children whose parents and healthcare providers believe that the child would benefit from them. We believe this is an excellent start on the way to replacing mandates with healthcare based strictly on informed consent of individuals for themselves and parents for minor children. It is obvious to us that Governor Hochul’s budget trick is just a gambit to retain control of vaccine policy by politicians beholden to the vaccine industry.   

Gov. Hochul’s is attempting to consolidate power over vaccine policy in New York following her disastrous performance during COVID. If we learned anything from COVID it is that decisions about public health should be made by the public, not unaccountable politicians. The primary casualty of New York State’s disastrous bungling of the response to COVID is the authority or legitimacy to make any vaccine decisions for anyone. 

TAKE ACTION

Please use the panel to the right to send messages to Gov. Hochul and your State Senator and Assemblymember opposing the Governor’s attempt to grab control over the recommended vaccine schedule in NY.

Please call the Governor and let her know that you oppose the Governor’s power grab.

Gov. Kathy Hochul (518) 474-8390

TALKING POINTS

The Governor wants to bypass the federal government, the NY legislature and the public. Governors in New York prepare the budget. Sometimes they use the controversial tactic of putting non-budgetary language into the budget when they are not confident they can get what they want through the usual legislative process. If Hochul was confident this proposal could pass, she would introduce it like a normal bill. 

Not only is Hochul attempting to bypass HHS, Hochul is bypassing the voters and the usual legislative process. The entire New York budget is voted up or down by legislators in a simple “yes” or “or’ vote and it is very difficult to force Governors to remove language they have put into the budget. 

This is a power grab by the Governor.  All states, until the past few months, universally followed the recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Hochul’s budget, if passed, would allow New York to use the recommendations of private trade associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Practice (AAFP), the American College of Obstetricians (ACOG, the American College of Physicians (ACP), or any other organization that the Governor wants to use,

Privatizes formation of the vaccine schedule. The organizations named by the Governor are all private, and unaccountable to either the public or elected officials.  They all have direct professional and financial incentives to maximize vaccine usage. Asking the AAP if a child should get a shot is like asking the National Association of Automobile Dealers if people should buy cars. 

Foreign organizations could be used by countries that do not use American licensed products. Unidentified “international” organizations, presumably the World Health Organization (WHO), can be used to form recommendations for New York but there is no requirement that these countries make their recommendations based on the products available in New York.

Most of the affected shots are not mandated in New York. Only meningitis B and hepatitis B injections are required to attend school in New York. Influenza shots are required by the City of New York to attend daycare or pre-school regulated by the City of New York. COVID, flu for K-12, meningitis b, HPV, rotavirus, RSV, and hepatitis A are not mandated to attend school in New York.

Anybody can get the shots if they want them. All the shots that are still available to parents who want them for their children and are still covered by public and private health insurers. 

Many parents do not want these shots of their children. The point is to keep up demand for products that are not required to attend school in New York, and that most people do not want for their children. Only 7% of minors got the current COVID booster, according to the CDC, and more than half of American children did not get the flu shot.

Hochul’s budgetary move follows statements she made in her 2026 State-of-the-State address, “And we’re also protecting access to lifesaving vaccines. Last year, when pharmacies began turning people away, I declared an emergency and expanded who can prescribe and administer vaccines, so no New Yorker is left unprotected. This year, I’ll go further ensuring New York’s immunization standards are set by trusted medical experts, not conspiracy theorists!”

The NYS Department of Health has announced several times that there will be no changes to New York vaccine policy, regardless of what the federal government does.  

If Gov. Hochul wants to change how vaccine schedules are made in New York, she should introduce a bill and let the public and legislators participate in the process, not with a power grab via the budget. Oppose Gov. Hochul's budget.