SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2438        FILED ON: 3/3/2010

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2300

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Ten

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An Act establishing a voluntary school-based influenza vaccination program.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department of public health shall, subject to appropriation, establish a school-based influenza vaccination pilot program.  Participation in the pilot program shall be voluntary on the part of the school district and shall be administered with the consent of the student’s parents or legal guardian.  The pilot program shall offer both the live attenuated nasal spray and the inactivated injection.  In implementing the pilot programs, the department shall maximize the use of influenza vaccine available through the federal Vaccines for Children Program for eligible children as well as other federal and state resources for influenza vaccine.  The department may seek, receive, and spend money received through an appropriation, grant, donation, or reimbursement from any public or private source to implement the pilot program.

The department of public health shall develop informational material relative to the benefits and risks of annual immunization against influenza for children under the age of 18.  The department shall make any materials readily available to participants of the pilot program.

Upon completion of the pilot program, the department of public health shall submit a written report on its findings and recommendations to the general court.  The report shall include, but not be limited to: (i) an assessment of the benefits of establishing school-based influenza vaccination programs; (ii) identification of the barriers to implementing school-based influenza vaccination programs and recommend strategies for removing such barriers; and (iii) an examination of the fiscal impact to the state of school-based influenza vaccination program.