New law keeps vaccines free in NJ
By: Scott Fallon
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... New Jersey health insures have long been required by state law to provide coverage for vaccinations, but only if they are recommended by federal regulators.
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That became upended in January [2026] when the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under vaccine critic Robert Kennedy Jr. dropped six diseases from the recommended list of childhood vaccination, drawing criticism from the medical community and New Jersey public health officials.
..... But a new law signed by Governor Phil Murphy shortly before he left office requires all insures to cover vaccination recommended by the state Department of Health without any costs to policy holders.
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Murphy signed the law - S4894 - just weeks after the DCD pulled back its vaccine recommendations for rotavirus, influenza, menigococcal disease, COVID-19, and Hepatitis A and B, saying that would align with policies in other countries, most notably Denmark.
..... although federal regulators said those six vaccines would be covered under Affordable Care Act and government insurance plans, there was no mention of commercial insurers.
..... The New jersey law specifically states that commercial individual and group health insures must comply and cover vaccines recommended by the state - along with all government plans, including New Jersey family Care, the state's Medicaid program.
..... The law also marks New Jersey's continuing shift away for the CDC. The state Health Department will now serve as New Jersey's primary vaccine recommendation body, and not the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, whose newest members are vaccine skeptics placed there by Kennedy.
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The state law was passed mostly on party lines in the state Assembly and Senate with Democrats supporting it and Republicans opposed.
..... Those members have argued that American children are over-vaccinated compared with other western countries.
..... Critics counter that most of those other countries have universal health care, unlike the U.S., where greater levels of prevention are needed.
..... The new law requires the Health Department to consider the CDC's guidance along with those from medical societies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics.
..... "This law ensures our standards remain rooted in medical expertise, even as federal policy becomes less predictable," said state Senator Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, the law's primary sponsor.
..... New Jersey health officials have said they would break away form the CDC. Shortly, after Kennedy was approved as sectary of Health and Human Services last year, [2025] New Jersey joined seven other Northeast states led by Democrats to develop health policy.
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The Northeast Public Health collaborative said in January [2026] that it would follow the American Academy of Pediatrics' childhood vaccine schedule.
..... These polices will likely continue during Governor Mikie Sherrill's administration. Her nominee for state health commissioner, Raynard Washington, said his main duties would be to "protect the public's health and safety, including providing reliable medical information, based in science."