Philadelphia, PA – Today, Governor Josh Shapiro delivered remarks at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), assuring Pennsylvanians that they will be able to have clarity and confidence guiding their health care decisions, not politics. Following his remarks, the Governor signed Executive Order 2025-02 that will safeguard vaccines across Pennsylvania and protect families’ freedom to make their own health care decisions.
See below for the Governor’s remarks as delivered:
Madeline, thank you.
Thank you for your leadership, not just here at CHOP, but the work you do civically all across our city and our Commonwealth.
You really stand out, and you're an incredible leader, and I'm grateful to partner with you again—not just here at CHOP—but on so many different things.
You all are blessed to have Madeline leading the effort, and I know she understands CHOP is only as strong as the amazing doctors and nurses and staff—-many of whom are here today.
And I just came today to say thank you for the incredible work you do.
For me, this is kind of as close as I'm ever going to become my dad, or be like my dad.
I will tell you that I went to college to be a pediatrician like my dad, because I held him up as just my hero—hold him up as my hero—because he's someone who goes out every single day helping children feel better, helping families get through the stress of a really challenging moment.
But apparently you guys have to take organic chemistry, and that didn't work for me, so I never, never quite made it. But I get to help children this way, and that's a big reason why I wanted to be here today, to talk about the future of children's health and Pennsylvanians’ health, here at the premier Children's Hospital in America.
I've said to Madeline many times, I feel so blessed that CHOP is here in our Commonwealth, and I hope to never, ever need it. And I think that's how most people feel. And I say that with the utmost respect.
We don't want to have to walk in these walls, but if you do, if you walk in these doors, you're just so thankful that you all are here. The expertise, the caring, the love that you're able to provide to families is really, really remarkable. So, I feel really blessed to be here today, and really honored to be in your presence.
And I'm grateful to be here, as you heard before, with Representative Khan who has been a great partner to me in the legislature, and we're thankful for your votes on many things that support CHOP and thank you for your partnership.
I also need you to know a couple people, a few people on my staff, who tend to work quietly behind the scenes, but I want you to know who they are, and I want you to know their names.
I say all the time, we want to keep politicians and lawyers out of the exam room, right? We want that conversation to be between a doctor, a nurse and a child or a parent.
But sometimes we do need lawyers involved in these conversations, particularly when you have attacks coming on health care, and I've got two extraordinary lawyers who lead this effort for me.
Mike Fischer and Jacob Boyer, who join us here today, have been leading our work to protect health care here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. You're going to hear more about their work in a moment.
They're joined by my Deputy Chief of Staff, Lindsey Mauldin, who leads our health care work. Lindsey, thank you for all of your incredible work.
I'm, of course, here today as your governor, but I want you to know I'm also here today as a father of four, and I think about these health care issues—particularly when it comes to children and families—through that prism.
What would I want, as a father for my children? And then how do I make sure I deliver that for all children across Pennsylvania—the nearly 2 million children in our Commonwealth.
Lori and I want, for them, the absolute best medical care, with accurate information.
The best medicines and treatments and vaccines that they can have, so they can live healthy lives.
And as parents, we want the freedom to make decisions for our children in their best interest, in consultation with medical experts.
We don't want politicians who don't know best taking away our freedom to be able to be parents over our children, and interrupt or interfere with the relationship with our doctors.
I believe the same thing is true about vaccines.
I want the freedom to be able to provide my children, and to be able to take myself, the vaccines that I think are necessary to keep me and my family safe.
I think we need to have clear and accurate information and fact-based recommendations coming from doctors in Pennsylvania, and I believe all Pennsylvanians should have access to the vaccines that they want for themselves and their children, and the freedom to be able to make decisions that are best for you—especially here in Pennsylvania, especially here in Philadelphia, just a few blocks from where this grand experiment in freedom began.
This is the birthplace of freedom, and I think medical and health care freedom is central to those tenets of what we need more of in this country.
I want trained professionals who know science to be empowered to guide you.
I do not want you to be guided by someone like RFK Jr, who I believe is wholly unqualified to give medical advice, and who is restricting our freedoms here in Pennsylvania and across this country.
We have seen, sadly, in recent months, the President of the United States and RFK Jr. spreading blatantly false information about vaccines and their efficacy.
And they're taking real, concrete steps to restrict your ability to get access to a vaccine, or your ability to decide what vaccines your child should get.
Let me give you just one example: RFK kicked off 17 highly qualified medical experts off of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices known as ACIP. Now, everybody in this room knew what ACIP was. I don't think a whole lot of people knew what ACIP was before RFK Jr. blew it up, including the very competent, the very qualified Charlotte Moser, the co-director of the Vaccine Education Center right here at CHOP.
And then he replaced qualified people like Charlotte with a whole bunch of vaccine skeptics who willfully ignore science and embrace conspiracy theories. That's dangerous for health care.
And remember, this is the group that recommends which vaccines should be used for which patients.
And until recently, Pennsylvania relied on ACIP to determine how we would recommend vaccinations.
That created a conflict earlier this year, because after the FDA approved the new covid vaccine only for seniors and for those with pre-existing conditions, ACIP then didn't meet for nearly a month.
Major pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS, as well as the small mom-and-pop pharmacies that we're fortunate to have in our communities, well, they were left without any clear guidance, and then they felt that they couldn't offer the COVID-19 vaccine to anyone, especially those who were explicitly included in FDA approval.
In response, we didn't look to Washington for answers, particularly when you've got the conspiracy theorists running that place.
Instead, I directed the Pennsylvania State Board of Pharmacy to meet and expand the list of organizations that pharmacists here in our Commonwealth could rely on for guidance as to who would be eligible for the COVID vaccine.
Now, as a result of our action, pharmacists in Pennsylvania can look to medical experts who actually follow science, and that includes now, as a result of our action, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Family Physicians, or the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for their vaccine recommendations.
As a result of that action, pharmacies here in Pennsylvania are now offering the COVID vaccine to people 65 and over and those with pre-existing conditions, without a prescription, and anyone else can go in and get their COVID vaccine, if they so choose, with a prescription, here in Pennsylvania.
The Department of Health, led by Dr. Deb Bogen, who you'll hear from in a moment, issued clear, evidence-based vaccine guidance for other vaccines, recommending the doctors follow those same groups of medical experts I mentioned before—providing clarity in an area where Washington has tried to sow chaos.
We are providing reliable, fact-based information, ensuring Pennsylvanians have full access to proven vaccines and the freedom to make the best decisions for themselves, in consultation with their doctors.
Listen, remember, I'm here not just as a Governor, but a father. This is what I want for my family, and of course, I want that for every family in Pennsylvania as well.
In just a few moments, I'm going to sign an executive order, here at CHOP, directing Pennsylvania state agencies to take additional steps to protect access to vaccines here in our Commonwealth and ensure that Pennsylvanians have reliable information available to them so they can make smart decisions.
This executive order which I'm about to sign goes through six concrete steps. I'd like to walk through them briefly with you.
First, I'll be directing Dr. Deb Bogen, who leads our Department of Health, to create a Pennsylvania-based program, similar to the federal Vaccines for Children, which provides free vaccines for up to 1.5 million Pennsylvania children.
So, as I think you know, the access to vaccines through the federal program is based on ACIP’s recommendations, and I know we're all worried about RFK hand-picked folks on ACIP imposing further restrictions on vaccines that have long been proven safe and life saving for our kids, in the months to come. So, we are preparing right now. And should that happen, we will have a Pennsylvania program in place in order to protect all God's children.
Second, I'm directing all Commonwealth agencies to ensure our state regulations and guidance align with the recommendations of our nation's leading medical experts.
We want Pennsylvanians to have reliable evidence-based information, regardless of what happens at the federal level.
Third, to that end, I'm also directing the Department of Health to create a central hub of Vaccine Information and Resources, which is housed at pa.gov/vaccines, so folks have one clear place here in Pennsylvania to go to for actual facts, for actual science, and for answers.
That website is now live, and it will be updated regularly as the Commonwealth takes additional steps.
Fourth, I'm directing the Department of Human Services, under someone I know you know well, who's a dear friend and doing an amazing job as a member of my cabinet, the head of the Department of Human Services Dr. Secretary Val Arkoosh, is here.
I directed her, together with our Insurance Commissioner Mike Humphreys, who joins us here today—thank you for being with us, Mike—to make sure that all FDA-approved vaccines remain covered by Medicaid and private insurance here in our Commonwealth.
I want to thank Commissioner Humphreys, who has already been in touch with private insurers across the Commonwealth—and they have committed to Commissioner Humphreys and to my Administration—that these private insurers will continue to cover these vaccines, at least through the end of 2026.
I know that's been hard work, and we appreciate all your work with the private insurers.
Fifth, I'm directing the Department of State, under the leadership of Secretary Al Schmidt, the Department of Education, and the Department of Aging to clearly communicate our updated vaccine guidance to schools and senior centers and professional licensing boards to, once again, empower Pennsylvanians with actual facts, real science, and the information they need to make smart health care decisions.
And sixth and finally, I'm directing the Department of Health to convene a new working group of pediatricians, family physicians, obstetricians, parents, pharmacists, public health experts, local leaders, and community representatives to develop a strategy for communicating publicly around vaccines—to clear up the misinformation and disinformation and provide real information to Pennsylvanians.
At the same time, Dr. Bogen and her team will continue to work closely with our local health departments and our neighboring states through the Northeast Public Health Collaborative—which I've joined with other governors here in the northeastern part of the United States—to ensure that vaccine guidance is consistent across this Commonwealth and across our region.
We'll be making it clear that here in Pennsylvania, we're following real facts, we're applying real science, and we're going to give Pennsylvanians the freedom to make their own informed health care decisions—and that we expect our insurance companies to follow suit.
In the absence of clear and common sense guidance at the federal level, I want you to know my team and I are stepping up here in Pennsylvania.
And listen, this isn't just good public health guidance. This is also really good for our economy.
Let me explain. Because while our Commonwealth is proud to be home to world class institutions like CHOP and top medical institutions like Penn and the University of Pittsburgh on the other side of the state, we're also one of the top sites in the entire country for vaccine production here in the Commonwealth, employing thousands of Pennsylvanians in manufacturing vaccines.
In fact, more than half of all vaccines administered in the United States come from a facility here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
This vaccine production is responsible for 4,700 jobs of our fellow Pennsylvanians, and generates $4.74 billion for our economy.
So, look, I know you probably don't worry about that a whole lot when you're conducting important health care procedures, but it's also big business for us here in this Commonwealth.
Our health, our safety, and our economy all depend on people having access to vaccines. And sadly, RFK Jr. and the President want to try and take that away from us.
But hear me on this: they will not succeed. We will continue to protect health care access and your rights and freedoms here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
So, I want to thank CHOP for allowing us to be here today.
You are the example of what it means to be an expert. You are the example of what it means to care for others. You are the example of what freedom is—the freedom to have access to an amazing place like this, to make your own health care decisions, and to have those health care decisions be made directly with a doctor, not with the interference of politicians or conspiracy theorists.
You are the example I want to hold up, not just for this Commonwealth, but for this entire country.
And I want you to know as your Governor and as someone who could never become a pediatrician because of that organic chemistry class, I really value you. I respect you. I appreciate the work you all do, and I admire what you do, and I'm going to do everything in my power to continue to protect that unique relationship you and our pharmacists and others have with patients and Pennsylvanians.
Thank you so very much for allowing me to be here today for this important announcement.
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