Reading Room Document

Preemption of State and Local Requirements Under a PREP Act Declaration

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act and the COVID-19 declaration issued by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under that Act preempt state or local requirements, such as state licensing laws, that would prohibit or effectively prohibit qualifying state-licensed pharmacists from ordering and administering FDA-approved COVID-19 tests and FDA-authorized or FDA-licensed COVID-19 vaccines. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/olc/file/1356956/download.

January 19, 2021