Rantz: Democrats’ dangerous new push to cut your doctor out of COVID vaccine decisions

During a recent Senate hearing with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. you kept hearing the same claim made over and over again: that somehow RFK Jr. lied when he said that anyone who wanted access to a COVID vaccine could have it.

Senator Elizabeth Warren used the hearing to generate a viral moment, pushing back to claim that people can’t get the COVID vaccine.

“You promised that you would not take away vaccines from anyone who wanted them. You just changed the classification of the COVID vaccine. It takes it away. If you can’t get it from your pharmacy… if you have to pay for it, it takes it away,” she claimed over RFK Jr.’s protestations.

Warren is lying. And the argument she and others are making to claim “if you want a COVID vaccine, you can’t get one” is remarkably disingenuous and dangerous.

Here’s the Democrats’ disingenuous argument

Washington Post columnist Dr. Leana Wen, one of the medical experts who constantly put out COVID misinformation, published a piece meant to bolster Warren’s claims titled, “The updated COVID shot may be hard to get. Here’s why.”

To qualify for free COVID vaccines, the FDA has limited its official approval to people 65 and older and those with certain medical conditions. Anyone else may have to pay and, as Wen claims, will face some “barriers.” But the barriers are mostly invented.

Wen notes that patients will “need to persuade their physician to prescribe the coronavirus vaccine ‘off-label’— that is, outside of the FDA’s approved indications.” She then offers an apples-to-oranges example of why she views asking a doctor for a vaccine will be a “barrier.”

The challenge is that not every doctor will be willing to do this. In 2023, I recommended that patients at high risk for severe covid ask their doctors for “just-in-case” Paxlovid in the event they contracted the virus while traveling, but readers had mixed results. Some told me their doctors readily agreed to prescribe the antiviral off-label; others reported their physicians were reluctant or simply refused.

I anticipate a similar hesitation regarding off-label vaccine prescriptions.

These are hardly hurdles. And they are not the same as the vaccine being “taken away.” The debate is being framed dishonestly.

Democrats want to cut your doctor out of the picture

Democrats commonly explain that medical decisions should be left to the patient and their doctor. But now, suddenly, we’re being told that Sen. Warren or Dr. Wen should determine your access to a vaccine you may not need instead of your actual doctor—the one who actually knows you and your medical history the best. That seems awfully dangerous. It’s also messaging that directly counters their own oft-cited talking point.

We’re now supposed to just give in to ever whim of a patient?

Consider this: you’re a patient with a back ache and you demand Oxycontin from your doctor. But she is reluctant to prescribe it. It’s a minor backache that can be treated with over-the-counter medications and an ice pack or maybe a massage. Warren and Wen seem to think that the patient’s demand for Oxycontin should outweigh the judgment from the patient’s doctor.

Ultimately, this should come down to the doctor-patient relationship. If you’re a healthy, 17-year-old boy, and the doctor says, “Yeah, COVID is not going to impact you at all. There’s a mild risk of myocarditis as a result of this vaccine. I just don’t think it’s worth it,” I’m going to trust that doctor. That this is seen as a hurdle tells you everything you need to know about the far-left position on the COVID vaccine.

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