Colorado’s top health official on Wednesday issued an order allowing pharmacists to provide COVID-19 vaccines without a prescription after two major chains announced they would limit the shots in their stores.

Dr. Ned Calonge, chief medical officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, issued a “standing order” allowing anyone 6 months or older to receive the updated COVID-19 vaccines at a pharmacy starting Friday.

A standing order essentially is a prescription to the entire area under a public health department’s jurisdiction; cities and counties used them to allow anyone to buy the overdose-reversal drug naloxone before it became available over the counter.

The Colorado State Board of Pharmacy will meet Friday for an emergency rulemaking session to ensure pharmacies and their employees are protected as they administer shots under the standing order. The order doesn’t require pharmacies to offer the vaccines.

CVS and Walgreens announced last week that their Colorado locations would only provide COVID-19 vaccines to people who presented a prescription. The state allows pharmacists to give vaccines only when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization advisory committee recommends them. Fifteen other states have a similar requirement.

In previous years, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended the updated COVID-19 shots within days of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving them.

The FDA approved updated vaccines last week, but the committee hasn’t taken action and isn’t scheduled to meet until mid-September — and even then, may not vote to recommend them, since multiple new members have publicly stated their opposition to COVID-19 vaccines or, in some cases, to all vaccines.

“Colorado is committed to empowering individuals to make choices to protect their own health and safety, and I will not allow ridiculous and costly red tape or decisions made far away in Washington to keep Coloradans from accessing vaccines,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.

This year, the FDA approved the COVID-19 vaccines for anyone 65 or older, and for younger people with one of about 30 conditions that increase their risk of severe illness. Before, anyone who was 6 months or older could get the shot annually, assuming they hadn’t had the virus in the previous two months.

Doctors can prescribe the vaccine “off-label” to healthy people who want extra protection before the fall respiratory season, though insurers could refuse to pay for the shots under those circumstances. Off-label prescribing is relatively common; for example, women undergoing fertility treatment sometimes take a repurposed breast cancer drug.

Most health insurance companies in Colorado didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to questions about whether they would cover the updated shot without out-of-pocket costs for all their members.

Kaiser Permanente said it would review the CDC’s guidance when it arrives, but is “committed to making the 2025-26 COVID vaccine available at no cost to children and adults for protection from severe illness.”

Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the state health department, issued a public health order directing it to work with the state agencies overseeing Medicaid, private insurance plans and the regulation of pharmacies to remove barriers to vaccines for anyone who wants one.

“Since October 1, 2024, more than 4,500 Coloradans have been hospitalized due to COVID-19,” she said in a news release. “This order ensures that Colorado takes every step possible to prevent hospitalizations, protect frontline health care workers and preserve critical health care resources. Equitable vaccine access is a cornerstone of protecting the public’s health.”

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Originally Published: September 3, 2025 at 2:19 PM MDT