HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 914        FILED ON: 1/29/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3738

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Jon Santiago

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to ensure the rapid, accessible and equitable administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 914        FILED ON: 1/29/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3738

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act to ensure the rapid, accessible and equitable administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to establish forthwith rapid, accessible and equitable administration of COVID-19 vaccine in the commonwealth, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health.
 

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, no office or agency of the commonwealth or of any political subdivision thereof, including local public health authorities, shall designate a location or establish a program for the purposes of inoculating individuals against the 2019 novel coronavirus without first taking into account the accessibility of the location or program to populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including, but not limited to communities of color, elders, and communities with high population density.

SECTION 2. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of health and human services shall establish a central intake and scheduling program for the inoculation of individuals against the 2019 novel coronavirus. Said program shall, at a minimum: (i) enable scheduling of appointments via electronically and telephonically; (ii) be culturally competent, accessible in a variety of languages and be accessible to persons with disabilities; and (iii) shall allow for all persons not yet eligible to be vaccinated to register on a waiting list.

SECTION 3. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, in order to ensure equity in COVID-19 vaccine distribution, the quantity of vaccine distributed on a weekly basis to each federally-qualified community health center in the commonwealth shall, at a minimum, be proportional to the percentage of the population of the commonwealth served by such community health center; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall require distribution of COVID-19 vaccine to a federally-qualified community health center in excess of what said community health center is capable of properly storing and administering within 10 days of distribution.

SECTION 4. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, ambulance services licensed under chapter 111C of the General Laws are hereby authorized to operate Community EMS door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination programs pursuant to chapter 111O of the General Laws; provided, however, such programs shall operate at the direction of the department of public health or local public health authorities consistent with the commonwealth’s vaccination distribution plan and shall have clinical oversight by a qualified physician. Such programs shall adhere to training, storage, and reporting requirements established by the department of public health pursuant to Chapter 111O.

SECTION 5. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, no office or agency of the commonwealth shall distribute COVID-19 vaccine to any person or entity that is not integrated with the central intake and scheduling program established under section 2.

SECTION 6. The office of health equity established in section 16AA of chapter 6A of the General Laws shall serve in an advisory capacity on the equitable implementation of this act.

SECTION 7. Not later than 14 days after enactment and every 30 days thereafter, the department of public health shall submit a status update on the implementation of each section of this act to the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on health care financing, the joint committee on public health, and the joint committee on elder affairs.

SECTION 8. Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are hereby repealed.

SECTION 9. Section 5 shall take effect 14 days after enactment.

SECTION 10. Section 8 shall take effect 60 days after the termination of the state of emergency declared by the governor on March 10, 2020.