BILL NUMBER:S2115

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 infectious 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 provides the enacting clause.

JUSTIFICATION:  This bill establishes The 215 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 lnfluenzae Type B
(Hib), Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Influenza (Flu), Measles,
Meningococcal, 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
legislation 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
immunization 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: New bill

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: Unknown.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately.