The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ended on May 11, 2023. First responder agencies are asking, “can we still provide the same COVID-19 services, like testing and vaccinations, that we did before the PHE ended?” The answer is YES.

State and federal law still covers the administration of tests and vaccinations by authorized health care workers outside of an emergency declaration.

In June 2022, Governor Inslee signed into law House Bill 1893 – 2021-22 which allows “emergency medical technicians to provide medical evaluation, testing, and vaccines outside of an emergency in response to a public health agency request.”

WA COVID-19 is funded by the Washington State Department of Health. Agencies working with WA COVID-19 to provide point-of-care (POC) or over-the-counter (OTC) tests to their community are therefore responding to a request by a public health agency and are authorized under state law to provide COVID-19 testing as a service. 

For those agencies that are administering POC tests as part of WA COVID-19, your local Medical Program Director should have a copy of your testing protocol on file. Distribution of OTC tests that are not administered by EMS personnel (“at-home tests”), do not require this additional documentation to be filed with the Medical Program Director.

The PREP Act (or Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act) protects health care workers from legal liability for administering medical countermeasures for COVID-19, including tests, vaccines, and other drugs.

On May 9, 2023, Secretary of Health Xavier Becerra signed an amendment to the PREP Act that extends the time period of coverage for certain Covered Countermeasures and Covered Persons.

Here are the takeaways:

• The PREP Act authorizes immunity from legal liability for the “manufacture, testing, development, distribution, administration, and use” of covered countermeasures. 
• Covered countermeasures include “any antiviral, any other drug, any biologic, any diagnostic, any other device, or any vaccine, used to treat, diagnose, cure, prevent, or mitigate COVID-19.” 
• The immunity applies to all covered persons as defined in the PREP Act, including any person authorized by state and local public health agencies (or an EUA) to “prescribe, administer, deliver, distribute or dispense” covered countermeasures.
• The amendment signed on May 9, 2023 (effective as of May 11, 2023), extends this coverage through December 31, 2024.

This means that Fire and EMS agencies will continue to be protected from liability under the PREP act until the end of 2024.

Join us on Tuesday, May 23 from 2-3pm in the Gala room of the Wenatchee Convention Center for the session:

From Emergency to Sustainability – How Fire & EMS Agencies Are Navigating the End of the Public Health Emergency

With the end of the federal public health emergency on May 11, 2023, this session will examine the impact and sustainability of services like COVID-19 testing outside of an emergency declaration. The event will feature an interactive data walk and discussion with representatives from the Washington State Department of Health and Health Commons Project.

WA COVID-19 provides Fire & EMS agencies in Washington with COVID-19 testing supplies, support, and funding to support lightweight COVID-19 testing services for community members.

Check out the full agenda for the WFC Expo.