A North Carolina law now extends the authority of pharmacists to administer COVID-19 vaccines without a prescription from a physician. The temporary authority had been granted by an emergency amendment to the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP) in 2020. Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill into law on Friday. “This important legislation will help our state administer COVID-19 vaccines more quickly and efficiently,” Cooper said in a press release. The amendment to PREP had authorized licensed pharmacists, pharmacy interns, and pharmacy technicians to administer COVID-19 vaccines without a prescription from a physician. In December 2020, North Carolina State Health Director Elizabeth Tilson signed an order authorizing immunizing pharmacists in North Carolina to administer the COVID-19 vaccines in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19. That emergency authorization was temporary, but House Bill 96, now law, will expand vaccination authority, beginning on Sept. 1, for pharmacists, …
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