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Public commenters urge board to review VAERS reports, language-access and intern-internship rules
Summary
Public commenters at the Nov. 5 California State Board of Pharmacy meeting urged the board to study reported vaccine adverse events tied to pharmacies, adopt standardized translation or testing for pharmacy technicians, and amend intern-pharmacist licensure rules to allow leave-of-absence protections.
Multiple members of the public used the board's Nov. 5 public-comment period to raise consumer-safety and workforce issues for the California State Board of Pharmacy.
Julie Threet, a pharmacist calling from Butte County, said she was a vaccine-injured patient and urged the board to take action on adverse-event reports she said were associated with pharmacy-administered vaccines. Threet told the board that the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) records tied to vaccines administered at California pharmacies rose from 24,731 to 27,060 and that death reports increased from 74 to 91 between her last report and Nov. 5, 2025. She said she would follow up by email and urged the board to consider an agenda item addressing vaccine injuries reported from pharmacy sites. The board responded that the meeting is not a question-and-answer forum but noted there are agendized items that may relate to immunization practice.
Chazni Johnson, a pharmacy technician from Oceanside, and a written commenter identified as Vincent urged improvements in language-access and translation practices in pharmacy settings. They said employers provide translation tools, but they advocated standardized testing or medical-terminology instruction for technicians who provide translation. "We are advocating for standardized testing to teach technicians medical terminology," a commenter said during the meeting, noting technical language differs from conversational usage and may not be taught in high school.
McKenna Fox, a fourth-year pharmacy student at USC, asked the board to amend intern-pharmacist law so that intern licensure is not tied to active enrollment and to allow an allotted leave-of-absence period (proposed 365 days) for interns who have matriculated and continue to progress toward a pharmacist license. She said she submitted suggested regulatory language to the board earlier that morning via the website portal.
Other public commenters thanked the board for outreach and inspection efforts and asked about inspection staffing. Board members discussed referring language-access and translation topics to the communications and public-advisory committee and suggested enforcement-committee consideration of consultation exceptions tied to provider-delivered medications.
All public comments were taken under the board's agenda item for items not on the agenda; the board did not take formal action during the comment period.
