NM Board of Pharmacy expected to release new protocol for COVID-19 vaccines this week - Julia Goldberg, Source New Mexico
An updated state protocol that New Mexico health officials hope will remove barriers for residents seeking COVID-19 vaccines will likely be effective by the end of the week.
State Health Secretary Gina DeBlassie signed a public health order on Aug. 29 directing the health department to work with the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy “to amend regulations to remove barriers and ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines at pharmacies across the state.”
The order followed reports of some “pharmacies announcing they cannot administer the vaccine in New Mexico unless recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an advisory group to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has yet to convene and act on the matter,” the health department said in a news release over the weekend.
NMDOH medical epidemiologist Dr. Chad Smelser told Source New Mexico on Wednesday that the updated protocol from the Pharmacy Board is expected to remove any of the barriers presented by the current federal guidelines.
Currently, he said, many of the vaccines administered in the state are done so through its pharmacies, which are governed by a protocol established by the Pharmacy Board and others that essentially requires the pharmacies to follow the ACIP guidelines in order to have “prescriptive authority” and give vaccines. Lacking the ACIP guidelines, Smelser noted, the pharmacies’ parent companies “have determined that they require a prescription in order to get a vaccine.”
The revised protocol, he said, addresses the situation.
“We anticipate that that will alleviate the problem,” he said, “however, we cannot control the decisions made by the parent companies of the pharmacies in New Mexico.”
New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department Communications Director Andrea Brown confirmed to Source NM on Wednesday that the updated protocol from the Board of Pharmacy “is pending final approval and should be effective by the end of this week.”
Smelser said New Mexico has not received its full allotment of the COVID-19 vaccine, but health officials expect more to be available in the state in the next few weeks. He said residents can call the health department’s hotline, 1-833-SWNURSE (1-833-796-8773) for assistance finding or scheduling their COVID-19 vaccines.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recent approved the updated COVID-19 vaccine formulations, but added new restrictions. As noted in the new health order, under the new FDA order, people over the age of 65 are eligible, but younger people require an underlying medical issue for eligibility. Smelser said he believes a large number of residents “will meet the criteria” and be able to access vaccines once the new protocol is in place and more of the allotment has arrived.
“New Mexico Department of Health believes that these are safe and effective vaccines for prevention spread in our communities, as well as to prevent severe outcomes like hospitalizations of death,” Smelser said. “So our main objective is to be able to get the vaccines out in an efficient manner to those who need it in our state.”
Governor's Office defends another round of salary increases for senior staffers - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
Top staffers in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office recently got hefty salary increases — in some cases bumping up their pay by 26% — that were much larger than most state employees received.
The Governor’s Office defended the pay raises for roughly 20 senior staffers as necessary given “market realities,” while also saying such workers are typically on call on a full-time basis.
“The governor’s senior staff salaries were adjusted to reflect the extraordinary level of expertise and experience they bring to serving New Mexico,” said Lujan Grisham spokesman Michael Coleman. “These seasoned professionals could command higher compensation in the private sector but choose public service.”
But some leading lawmakers criticized the pay increases while questioning whether taxpayers are getting a sufficient return given the state’s ongoing struggles with issues related to health care, homelessness and child welfare.
“With so many urgent challenges facing our communities, taxpayers deserve to see meaningful results, not just expanding payrolls for political appointees,” said House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena.
The Governor’s Office staffers receiving sizable salary increases include Lujan Grisham’s chief of staff Daniel Schlegel, whose pay level jumped from $201,893 last year to $234,000 this year — a 16% increase.
The governor’s General Counsel Holly Agajanian got a 19% pay raise to $208,000 per year, while her Deputy Chief of Staff Diego Arencon and Director of Cabinet Affairs Caroline Buerkle each received 9% salary increases, according to data from the state Sunshine Portal.
The largest pay raise was received by Leah Mountain, an administrative assistant, whose pay rate increased by 26% to $78,000 per year. The pay raises were first reported by The Candle, an online publication covering New Mexico news.
All state employees received 4% salary increases effective July 1, under a $10.8 billion budget bill approved by lawmakers in March and signed into law by Lujan Grisham.
Coleman, who also received a 10% pay bump, said the across-the-board salary increases for state workers represent a commitment to the broader workforce, while the pay hikes for senior Governor’s Office staffers are targeted at “specialized executive roles.”
“These professionals have helped secure billions in federal investments, navigate unprecedented challenges, and position New Mexico as a national leader on multiple fronts,” he said in a statement. “That expertise has value, and the governor believes that retaining it serves every New Mexican’s interest.”
The Governor’s Office did not say specifically when the raises were approved, but any salary adjustments made before July would have meant the 4% increase would be calculated based on a larger base salary.
Meanwhile, the pay increases are not the first of their kind approved by Lujan Grisham’s office.
Similar pay raises for top appointees under Lujan Grisham were approved in late 2022 and early 2023, shortly after the governor won reelection to a second four-year term.
Before that, about eight top Governor’s Office staffers received hefty salary increases in 2020, during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor herself has not seen her $110,000-per year salary increase since taking office in 2019, in large part because pay levels for statewide elected officials are set in statute. Lujan Grisham did sign a 2023 bill increasing those salary levels, but the pay hike for the governor will not take effect until 2027 — just after she leaves office. The state’s next governor will make $169,714 per year.
Top state investment officials and legislative branch officials have also received sizable salary increases over the last year.
New Mexico’s chief investment officer Vince Smith got a nearly 40% pay increase in June and is now the state’s highest-paid employee at $455,000 per year. Many other State Investment Office employees also received salary bumps.
In addition, Legislative Finance Committee Director Charles Sallee had his salary level increase from $193,640 last year to $213,200 as of this year, according to Sunshine Portal data.
New Mexico will soon release rules for new bans of everyday products that use ‘forever chemicals’ - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico will soon release an initial draft of rules to ban consumer products that contain so-called “forever chemicals,” the state’s top environment official told lawmakers Tuesday.
Earlier this year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 212, passed by lawmakers to institute the gradual phasing out of intentionally added per-and-polyfluouroalkyl substances in everyday items.
Lawmakers also passed a second bill, House Bill 140, to allow the New Mexico Environment Department to regulate and manage cleanup for firefighting foams containing PFAS on military bases, which have caused contamination in groundwater around the state.
“Both of these laws work together to keep PFAS out of our economy, out of our drinking water and out of people’s bodies,” Environmental Secretary James Kenney told lawmakers during an interim Radioactive Materials and Hazardous Waste interim committee meeting.
New Mexico is the third state to enshrine a ban in state laws to address the use of PFAS in consumer products, joining Maine and Minnesota. This class of manmade chemicals is often used in waterproofing and is able to withstand breaking down in water, oil and sunlight. As a result, PFAS can be found across a range of products, including cookware, takeout containers, dental floss, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, menstrual products, textiles and upholstered furniture.
But exposure through contaminated water and soil, as well as through the plants and animals, cause PFAS to build up in the human body. While still being studied, PFAS exposure is linked to increased cancer risks, fertility issues, low birth weights or fetal development issues, hormonal imbalances and limiting vaccine effectiveness.
The initial rules will be released sometime in September; require a public input process; and approval from the seven-member Environmental Improvement Board.
Once approved —potentially next summer — the PFAS ban would roll out in phases, starting with cookware, food packaging, firefighting foams, dental floss and “juvenile products,” by January 2027. Additional items would follow, such as cosmetics, period hygiene products, textiles, carpeting, furniture and ski wax. The rules will include exceptions for PFAS used in products such as: medical devices, pharmaceuticals, electronics and cars.
Kenney said the rules will contain instructions requiring manufacturers to label products containing PFAS; establish a process for companies to receive an exemption if needed; and develop fines for companies violating the ban.
The department will also soon be releasing its draft rules on regulating firefighting foams containing PFAS, expected to receive final approval in the fall 2026. Those rules, Kenney said, will help environment officials develop a statewide inventory of the foams and determine how to characterize, treat and ultimately dispose of them.
Kenney highlighted the recent report issued by the department finding the “fingerprint” of firefighting foam PFAS in people’s blood in Clovis, surrounding Cannon Air Force Base.
As a result of those findings, Kenney said the department is working to spend $2 million lawmakers set aside in capital outlay to move people off of private wells and onto public drinking water systems.
Furthermore, the department plans to conduct additional testing around Holloman Air Force Base and push for cleanup as multiple federal lawsuits between New Mexico and the military remain in the courts.
“We are going to continue to be in a groundwater war and a public health war with the Department of Defense,” Kenney said.
Sen. Ant Thorton (R-East Mountains) asked what the minimum level of exposure is safe for PFAS and what the state considered realistic.
Kenney said that he couldn’t provide an exact number “since I’m not a toxicologist,” but instead compared PFAS contamination in drinking water systems in two locations with known exposure: Curry County, near the base, and La Cieneguilla, which has detected contamination from the Santa Fe Regional Airport.
Curry County, he said, has higher risks of exposure, as its drinking water has PFAS levels 650,000% higher than federal standards. While “not negating” La Cieneguilla’s concerns, he said, levels for that community are “much closer” to the federal standard.
“We need to figure out where the greatest risk is occurring and minimize it from there,” Kenney said. “I think many people would say there’s no acceptable risk level for PFAS, I’m a little bit more pragmatic — it’s a forever chemical. It’s going to be hard to get out of the environment, and our risk is always going to be something greater than zero.”
Lawsuits target two Albuquerque City Council candidates – KUNM News
Two candidates for Albuquerque City Council are facing lawsuits contending they do not have enough signatures to be on their ballots.
Former Bernalillo County Commissioner and APS School Board member Steven Michael Quezada is suing District 3 candidate Teresa Garcia, seeking to remove her from the ballot. The complaint argues Garcia failed to submit the required 500 valid petition signatures to qualify for ballot placement.
The same argument underlies a suit filed against District 1 candidate Stephanie Telles. District residents Daniel Gonzales and Vincent A. Sanchez allege that Telles failed to submit 500 valid petition signatures required to appear on the ballot.
The plaintiffs in both suits are represented by Jacob Candelaria and Antonio Maestas.
Garcia issued a press release calling the lawsuit a “Trump-style political tactic meant to distract voters.” She writes she did get enough signatures and calls on the Albuquerque Ethics Board and the city’s Inspector General to investigate ties between Quezada and the current District 3 commissioner, Klarissa Peña.
The Albuquerque Journal reported recently that Telles, who is one of four candidates vying for the District 1 seat, is seven signatures short of the 500 minimum. Telles has disagreed and asked for a recount.
According to the Journal, she alleged to the city’s Ethics Board that Scott Forrester, the campaign manager for one of her opponents, tried to pay her to drop out of the race. Maestas is representing Forrester, who said the allegations lack credibility.