Bill Text: NJ A3978 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires hospitals and birthing facilities to provide new mothers with information about pertussis vaccines for adults.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2014-01-17 - Approved P.L.2013, c.275. [A3978 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A3978-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman PAMELA R. LAMPITT
District 6 (Burlington and Camden)
SYNOPSIS
Requires hospitals and birthing facilities to provide new mothers with information about pertussis vaccines for adults.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the pertussis vaccine and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Health shall prepare and make available to each hospital and birthing facility in the State informational literature on the pertussis vaccine for adults, including, but not limited to, information on the risks of pertussis, the morbidity and mortality rates among infants suffering from pertussis, the availability and efficacy of the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis booster vaccine, and the benefits of inoculating pregnant women, a new mother, and other adult family members with the booster vaccine, prior to an infant's birth or the mother's discharge from a hospital or birthing facility, as applicable, to prevent the transmission of pertussis to the infant
b. The department shall require each hospital and birthing facility in the State to provide new mothers with the informational literature specified in section a. of this section. The informational literature shall be distributed to the mother and any other adult family member present at the infant's birth, by the staff designated by the hospital or birthing facility, prior to the mother's discharge, as part of the hospital or birthing facility's discharge procedures.
c. As used in this section "birthing facility" means an inpatient or ambulatory health care facility licensed by the Department of Health that provides birthing and newborn care services.
2. The Commissioner of Health, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this act.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Since 2005, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) booster vaccine to an unvaccinated mother of a newborn infant and other adult family members before the infant's birth or mother's discharge from the hospital. By inoculating mothers and all other adult family members who may come into contact with infants, health care practitioners can more effectively prevent the transmission of pertussis to infants and reduce pertussis cases in infants less than three months old by 70 percent.
This bill, therefore, mandates that the Department of Health (DOH) prepare and make available informational literature on the pertussis vaccine for adults, including, but not limited to, information on the risks of pertussis, the morbidity and mortality rates among infants suffering pertussis, the availability and efficacy of the Tdap booster vaccine, and the benefits of inoculating pregnant women, a new mother, and other adult family members, with the booster vaccine, prior to an infant's birth or the mother's discharge from a hospital or birthing facility, to prevent the transmission of pertussis to the infant. "Birthing facility" is defined in the bill as an inpatient or ambulatory health care facility licensed by DOH that provides birthing and newborn care services.
DOH would require each hospital and birthing facility in the State to provide new mothers with the informational literature which would be distributed to the mother and any other family member present at the infant's birth, by staff designated by the hospital or birthing facility, prior to the mother's discharge, as part of the hospital or birthing facility's discharge procedures.
