New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie are pushing new legislation aimed to protect access to vaccines, the governor’s office announced Friday.

The package consists of two bills. One would require that, in addition to the vaccines recommended by the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP), health insurers must also cover vaccines recommended by the commissioner of health to the Superintendent of Financial Services, utilizing generally accepted medical standards and taking into consideration recommendations from nationally or internationally recognized scientific organizations.

The other bill would remove references to ACIP in the public health law that relates to school immunization requirements and recommended immunization schedule for newborns; education law that relates to the immunizations that physicians and nurse practitioners are authorized to prescribe or order and that pharmacists are authorized to administer; and social services law that relates to Medicaid coverage.

The second bill would also authorize pharmacists to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to children between the age of 2 and 18 under state law. Currently, pharmacists are only authorized to administer the vaccine to adults.

The move comes after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation's top health official, fired the entire 17-member ACIP panel last year and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.

U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy earlier this month said Kennedy's reconstitution of ACIP likely violated federal law. He ordered the appointments — and all decisions made by the reformed committee — put on hold.

“Our public health policies should be guided by science, not politics,” Gov. Hochul said in a statement. “Yet under President Trump and HHS Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr., we’ve watched the federal government empower vaccine skeptics and shred scientific consensus around the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Here in New York, we’re fighting back. I’m proud to partner with Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie on this legislation to protect vaccine access, put experts at the center of our public health policies, and keep New Yorkers healthy.”