The date when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, Dec. 11, 2020, was a seminal moment in human achievement. Never had a safe and effective vaccine been developed, tested, and approved so swiftly. But for history to record that date as the beginning of the end of the pandemic, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and all others approved for COVID-19 must be accessible to everyone — particularly those with limited means and the highest risk of exposure.

That is why pharmacists need full authority to administer all FDA-approved or authorized for emergency use vaccines, including those for COVID-19. However, state laws place a wide variety of restrictions on the types of vaccines pharmacists may administer. Those laws run afoul of public health and must be repealed.