Bill > A3727

Introduced Session

This bill requires county boards of health to take certain steps to ensure that all residents age 65 and older who reside in certain residential facilities are provided access to on-site vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The facilities to which the bill will apply include licensed rooming and boarding houses, residential health care facilities, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, continuing care retirement communities, certain public housing designated for seniors, and other housing designated for seniors. The bill requires county boards of health to determine, for each such facility located within the county, whether an existing on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration program that includes residents age 65 and older has already been established by the State or federal government for that facility. If not, the county board of health will seek to determine whether an existing program can be extended to provide on-site COVID-19 vaccinations to individuals age 65 and older who are residing at the facility. If an existing program cannot be extended, the county board of health will then be required to enter into agreements with one or more pharmacies or other appropriate health care providers to provide on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration to residents age 65 and older at the qualified housing facility. The bill defines "appropriate health care provider" to mean a hospital, ambulatory care facility, community health center, or individual practitioner that has access to a supply of COVID-19 vaccines sufficient to provide all initial and follow-up doses of the vaccine to each resident of a given facility who is age 65 or older. County boards of health will not be required to take steps to ensure on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration is provided at a qualified housing facility if fewer than 15 percent of the residents at the facility are age 65 or older. Nothing in the bill is to be construed to require any resident of a qualified housing facility to consent to the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. Nor is the bill to be construed to require county boards of health to cover the unreimbursed cost of the COVID-19 vaccine for persons residing in a qualified housing facility, although county boards of health will also not be prohibited from establishing a program to assist persons receiving an on-site COVID-19 vaccine under the bill with the unreimbursed costs of the vaccine. The bill appropriates $2 million to the Department of Health to provide grants to county boards of health to assist with the costs of implementing the provisions of the bill. The bill will expire 180 days after the end of both the state of emergency and the public health emergency declared in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and any unexpended funds appropriated pursuant to the bill will revert to the General Fund on that date.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Sterley Stanley (D)*,  Ralph Caputo (D), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Aging and Senior Services Committee (on 05/02/2022)

Official Document