Texas Physicians Group Accused of Undermining Federal COVID Vaccine Recommendations

By Terri Langford, The Texas Tribune

AUSTIN, TX — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday accused the Texas Medical Association, the state’s leading physician organization, of skirting new federal recommendations that state childhood COVID-19 vaccinations are no longer needed.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice updated its vaccine guidance and no longer recommends that all children should receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Instead, it recommends that “vaccination for COVID-19 be determined by individual decision-making.”

Shortly thereafter, the TMA sent out guidance to members, telling them to consider both the CDC’s new guidelines and those of physician professional organizations that run counter to the federal guidance.

Paxton said the move represents an “undermining” of the federal guidelines.

“It’s outrageous TMA is undermining ACIP’s new federal guidelines for COVID-19 vaccines that expand personal freedom and mitigate the medical tyranny of the Biden Administration,” Paxton said in a statement. “This decision should be reversed immediately, and I encourage every Texas physician to speak out against this brazen, flawed shift by TMA.”

TMA President Jayesh “Jay” Shah, M.D., said the organization is trying to help its membership have better conversations with patients.

However, the TMA acknowledged that it was “shifting course” from its longtime practice of referring physicians primarily to the CDC and ACIP.

Paxton said in his statement that he believes the move by the TMA is a “blatant attempt to undermine the science-backed ACIP recommendations and push COVID-19 vaccines on Texas kids at all costs.”