Bill Text: MS SB2994 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: School/Head Start influenza vaccination program; State Department of Health establish.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2011-02-01 - Died In Committee [SB2994 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2011-SB2994-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2011 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Welfare; Appropriations
By: Senator(s) Fillingane
Senate Bill 2994
AN ACT TO DIRECT THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO ESTABLISH SCHOOL-LOCATED INFLUENZA VACCINATION PROGRAMS IN ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND/OR HEAD START PROGRAMS AND TO PROVIDE CERTAIN STANDARDS FOR THE PROGRAM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The State of Mississippi finds as follows:
(a) Influenza is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. The best way to help prevent seasonal influenza is by getting a vaccination each year.
(b) Every year in the United States, on average, more than two hundred thousand (200,000) people are hospitalized from influenza-related complications and about thirty-six thousand (36,000) people, mostly the elderly, die from influenza-related causes.
(c) The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends seasonal influenza vaccinations for all eligible persons in the United States, including eligible children aged six (6) months through eighteen (18) years of age.
(d) Children and young adults five (5) years to nineteen (19) years of age are three (3) to four (4) times more likely to be infected with influenza than adults.
(e) School-aged children are the population group most responsible for transmission of contagious respiratory viruses, including influenza.
(f) The elderly are the next most vulnerable population to severe illness from influenza due to weaker immune response to vaccination.
(g) School-located influenza vaccination programs may be effective ways to vaccinate children while reducing transmission and infection rates to the larger community and at the same time reducing rates of school absenteeism due to children being infected with influenza.
(h) Increased focus on providing influenza vaccine to children targeted for immunization will also help efforts to build a sound foundation for future vaccination efforts.
(i) Schools can be an effective infrastructure tool to improve pandemic planning by identifying known and effective pandemic vaccination centers.
(j) School-located influenza vaccination programs may help facilitate mass immunization clinics and build partnerships with local public health teams, in the event of a public health emergency such as a pandemic.
(k) Although experience has demonstrated the feasibility and success of school-located influenza vaccination programs in vaccinating children, funding and logistical issues, particularly involving the delivery of vaccine to children with private insurance coverage, are issues with program sustainability.
SECTION 2. (1) The State Department of Health, in consultation with the Mississippi Insurance Commissioner and State Department of Education, shall establish school-located influenza vaccination programs in elementary and secondary schools and/or Head Start programs to vaccinate children against influenza.
(2) The program under this section shall be designed to administer influenza vaccines consistent with the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for the annual vaccination of all school-aged children.
(3) The State Department of Health may implement these programs through coordination with local health departments, school nurses, school health care programs or other local entities. In addition, the State Department of Health may contract with mass vaccination access companies to administer the vaccine in schools. In doing so, the Department of Health shall work with the Division of Medicaid to determine whether and how such companies may register with the Division of Medicaid to receive vaccine from the federal Vaccines for Children program for eligible children and reimbursement from the Division of Medicaid.
(4) Participation in the programs by a school district or an individual shall be voluntary. The vaccine shall be administered with the consent of a student's parent or legal guardian.
(5) In implementing the programs, the State Department of Health shall maximize the use of influenza vaccine available through existing public entitlement and discretionary resources and private immunization coverage in the following manner:
(a) For children who are eligible for the federal Vaccines for Children program, the State Department of Health shall provide influenza vaccine for these children through existing entitlement an discretionary funding for vaccine and work with the Division of Medicaid to ensure reimbursement for the administration fee.
(b) For children who have private insurance that covers influenza vaccination, health insurance plans which are licensed within the state and provide coverage for influenza immunization under existing policy shall provide reimbursement for influenza vaccine and its administration at the insurers' established rate when such vaccine is administered outside of the physician's office in a school or pharmacy setting.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2011.
