Massachusetts says that all citizens should be vaccinated to protect against the COVID-19 virus as the Bay State will now force insurance providers to cover vaccines approved by the state.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (pictured at the August 2024 DNC in Chicago) said Wednesday that "we are not going to let Donald Trump or Robert Kennedy take away your ability to make your own health care decisions" as Massachusetts became the second state to force insurance companies to cover state-approved vaccines. File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI UPI

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Massachusetts says that all citizens should be vaccinated to protect against the COVID-19 virus as the Bay State will now force insurance providers to cover vaccines approved by the state.

On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released its COVID-19 vaccine guidelines through 2026 that suggested all state residents get a COVID-19 shot, including children ages 6, and particularly those at higher risk of exposure, with a weakened immune system or pregnant.

"We are not going to let Donald Trump or Robert Kennedy take away your ability to make your own health care decisions," said Gov. Maura Healey.

The decision by Massachusetts came as the Food and Drug Administration under U.S. Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. approved in August its most recent round of COVID shots but federally limited their use.

Healey said earlier this month that Massachusetts will begin to require health insurance companies to cover state-recommended vaccines and became the first U.S. state to do so, followed by Illinois in an executive order Friday by Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat.

Executive actions in Illinois and Massachusetts could be the first in a series of other similar acts by governors to create a coalition to set vaccine policy separate of federal authorities.

"Massachusetts will continue to lead with science and protect access to life-saving vaccines," Healey, 54, said Wednesday in a statement.

Notably, the Healey administration's plan was backed by the nonprofit entities Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans.

The newly issued state guidelines stand in stark contrast to federal recommendations by the Trump administration and Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

Massachusetts health officials said the state acted on an "extensive review of current scientific data" consistent with widely respected groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The commonwealth's Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein reiterated Wednesday that vaccines remain the "most effective public health intervention of the past century," adding that vaccine use has "saved millions of lives."

Goldstein stated its guidelines were "grounded in evidence and science, driven by equity and shaped by the lived experiences" of Massachusetts' 351 communities.

On Monday, Healey called Kennedy a "walking conspiracy theorist who is denying people vaccines and the healthcare they want and need" during a speech to Massachusetts Democrats as she hailed her administration's new vaccine coverage mandate for insurance conglomerates.

A recent study indicated that in 2022 and 2023 more than 1.5 million "missing Americans" died due to COVID-19 in excessive deaths that could have been averted.

But on Wednesday Healey said the state was taking this action "so the people of Massachusetts know that you will continue to be able to get the vaccines you want and need -- no matter what happens at the federal level."

Also on Wednesday, ex-CDC Director Susan Minaret appeared on Capitol Hill to testify in front of lawmakers over her termination by Kennedy due to allegations that she refused to allow all decisions to be approved by political staff.