NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A829
SPONSOR: Magnarelli TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to creating the 21st
century workgroup for disease elimination and reduction
PURPOSE:
To broaden the scope of the Department of Health's management of infec-
tious diseases that pose a public health risk by creating the 21st
Century Workgroup for Disease Elimination and Reduction.
SUMMARY:
Section 1 adds a new title 6 to article 2 of the public health law,
creating The 21st Century Workgroup for Disease Elimination and
Reduction.
Section 2 establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill establishes The 21st Century Workgroup for Disease Elimination
and Reduction within the Department of Health.
Vaccines are modern medicine's most successful and efficient public
health tools for preventing disease and death. Because of vaccines,
crippling or fatal diseases like polio are no longer a common health
threat.
Currently there are vaccines available to protect children and adults
against at least 17 diseases, which cause serious afflictions such as
paralysis, loss of hearing, infertility and even death. Some are
Diphtheria, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Haemophilus Influenzae Type B
(Hib), Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Influenza (Flu), Measles, Meningococ-
cal, Mumps, Pertussis, Pneumococcal, Polio, Rotavirus, Rubella, Shingles
(Herpes Zoster), Tetanus, and Varicella (Chickenpox).
Specific groups of people may need special vaccinations. For example,
first-year college students living in dorms should be immunized against
meningitis. Travelers going abroad to foreign countries where diseases
that aren't common in the United States exist, such as typhoid fever and
yellow fever, may need additional vaccines before their trips. Measles,
rubella, mumps and polio also may be a risk during foreign travel.
Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) which is a viral disease carried by
wild birds and transmitted to horses and other mammals by mosquitoes.
The virus is found in wetland habitats along the Eastern seaboard of the
United States. EEE rapidly attacks the central nervous system and has a
90% mortality rate in horses.
While human cases of EEE are very rare, they are also extremely serious
with a recovery rate of less than 50%. Even in those individuals who do
recover, they are frequently left with brain damage. Children are more
susceptible to EEE than adults. Tragically, one such child was Maggie
Sue Wilcox, a four-year-old from Central, New York, succumbed to EEE in
the summer of 2011.
In the wake of that misfortune, public health forums and meetings
revealed the need for a modernization of the Department of Health's
management of infectious diseases.
The aim of this legislation is to utilize the expertise of the New York
Department of Health's Bureau of Immunization, working in conjunction
with the medical experts on the Immunization Advisory Council, to review
existing vaccines, review the status of international research and
development for vaccines likely to be candidates for the pharmaceutical
marketplace and to review the status of health threats which could be
addressed by the development of vaccines to thwart such threats.
In the category of diseases, illnesses and health threats, the legis-
lation directs the Department of Health to examine their severity,
frequency of occurrence, likelihood of recurrence over a period of time,
existence of vaccines for those diseases for animals.
The Department is expected to consult also with the vaccine and immuni-
zation policy making national organizations, specifically the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) which is a part of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, accessing
from the "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" (MMWR and other
National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) publications, including the
National Immunization Survey (NIS), would be a routine aspect of the
Department's duties under this measure.
Funding for the initial work of the Department is expected to utilize
monies from the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant as
well as to establish a liaison with the State's economic development
infrastructure.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2012: S.7778
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
