Utah News Dispatch
Letter confirms Utah pharmacists can give COVID-19 vaccines without prescription — for now
Utah’s professional licensing division sent a letter to pharmacists clarifying that administering the 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine is allowed without a prescription for eligible individuals. (Getty Images)
When a federal committee appointed by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted to recommend that COVID-19 immunizations be determined based on individual decision-making with providers, it prompted immediate questions about whether people would need a doctor’s note to receive a vaccine against the virus.
However, a week after the announcement, Utah’s professional licensing division sent a letter to pharmacists on Friday clarifying that administering the 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine is allowed without a prescription for eligible individuals over 6 months old — for now, and until federal agencies post their product-specific recommendations for the 2025-26 vaccine, which could say otherwise.
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The state’s current vaccine administration guidance dates back to April 2024 and hasn’t been updated yet. The vote from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that individuals of most ages should do a risk-benefit evaluation with their physician, nurse or pharmacist before getting vaccinated.
“(Utah’s Division of Professional Licensing) is currently awaiting the CDC’s response regarding whether it will adopt, modify, or reject the ACIP recommendations,” the agency said in a news release. “The CDC’s decision could impact the future requirement for a COVID-19 vaccine prescription.”
Dr. Leisha Nolen, the Utah State Epidemiologist, said the letter confirms that pharmacists can administer the vaccine, which is currently available in many pharmacies across the state.
“Most of our large pharmacies are giving out the vaccine. They’re full on,” she said on Wednesday. “But I would be a little hesitant to say that every place has it, because we know they didn’t know what to expect until Friday.”
Many local health departments are providing the vaccine, Nolen said. However, she advised calling beforehand to make sure it is available and check the necessary process to get it.
Nolen described the vaccine boosters as “really useful,” especially during the winter season, when COVID numbers tend to spike.
“We expect that to happen this year. So by getting this booster vaccine, your body just remembers again what it’s fighting off. So if you do get exposed, it’s able to fight it off a lot better and a lot faster,” Nolen said.
Currently, an annual booster is recommended, she said. But that might shift as the virus changes.
“I think many people, many of our population, would benefit from this vaccine, and they should just talk to either the pharmacist when they go in to get the shot, or their doctor and make sure it’s the best choice for them,” Nolen said.
Those who contracted the virus recently can delay the booster, but four to six months after being sick, bodies start to forget how to fight the illness, Nolen said. That’s when it’s time to get a new vaccine.
As of Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classified COVID-19 presence in Utah’s wastewater as “very high.”
There was a “reasonable bump” in COVID-19 cases last month, Nolen said, but they are starting to come down.
