Title: Vaccinations During Public Health Emergencies

Summary: Removes authority of State Health Officer to order vaccination of individuals upon declaration of public health emergency; revises requirement that DOH adopt certain rules.

Full Text:
An act relating to vaccinations during public health emergencies; amending s. 381.00315, F.S.; removing the authority of the State Health Officer to order the vaccination of individuals upon declaration of a public health emergency; revising a requirement that the Department of Health adopt certain rules; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subsection (2) and paragraph (c) of subsection (5) of section 381.00315, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 381.00315 Public health advisories; public health emergencies; isolation and quarantines.-The State Health Officer is respons ible for declaring public health emergencies, issuing public health advisories, and ordering isolation or quarantines. (2) (d) The State Health Officer, upon declaration of a public health emergency, may take actions that are necessary to protect the public health. Such actions include, but are not limited to: 1. Directing manufacturers of prescription drugs or over the-counter drugs who are permitted under chapter and wholesalers of prescription drugs located in this state who are ENROLLED HB 7B 2021B Legislature hb0007b-01-er FL OR I DA HO US EO FR EP RE SE NT A TI VE Spermitted under chapter to give priority to the shipping of specified drugs to pharmacies and health care providers within geographic areas identified by the State Health Officer. The State Health Officer must identify the drugs to be shipped. Manufacturers and wholes alers located in the state must respond to the State Health Officer's priority shipping directive before shipping the specified drugs. 2. Notwithstanding chapters and and rules adopted thereunder, directing pharmacists employed by the department to compound bulk prescription drugs and provide these bulk prescription drugs to physicians and nurses of county health departments or any qualified person authorized by the State Health Officer for administration to persons as part of a prophylactic or tr eatment regimen. 3. Notwithstanding s. 456.036, temporarily reactivating the inactive license of the following health care practitioners, when such practitioners are needed to respond to the public health emergency: physicians licensed under chapter or chapter 459; physician assistants licensed under chapter or chapter 459; licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and advanced practice registered nurses licensed under part I of chapter 464; respiratory therapists licensed under part Vof chapter 468; and emergency medical technicians and paramedics certified under part III of chapter 401. Only those health care practitioners specified in this paragraph who possess an ENROLLED HB 7B 2021B Legislature hb0007b-01-er FL OR I DA HO US EO FR EP RE SE NT A TI VE Sunencumbered inactive license and who request that such license be reactivate dare eligible for reactivation. An inactive license that is reactivated under this paragraph shall return to inactive status when the public health emergency ends or before the end of the public health emergency if the State Health Officer determines that the health care practitioner is no longer needed to provide services during the public health emergency. Such licenses may only be reactivated for a period not to exceed days without meeting the requirements of s. 456.036 or chapter 401, as applicable. 4. Ordering an individual to be examined, tested, vaccinated, treated, isolated, or quarantined for communicable diseases that have significant morbidity or mortality and present a severe danger to public health. Individuals who are unable or unwilling to be examined, tested, vaccinated, or treated for reasons of health, religion, or conscience may be subjected to isolation or quarantine. a. Examination, testing, vaccination, or treatment may be performed by any qualified person authorized by the State Health Officer. b. If the individual poses a danger to the public health, the State Health Officer may subject the individual to isolation or quarantine. If there is no practical method to isolate or quarantine the individual, the State Health Officer may use any means necessary to vaccinate or treat the individual. ENROLLED HB 7B 2021B Legislature hb0007b-01-er FL OR I DA HO US EO FR EP RE SE NT A TI VE Sc. Any order of the State Health Officer given to effectuate this paragraph is immediately enforceable by a law enforcement officer under s. 381.0012. (5) The department shall adopt rules to specify the conditions and procedures for imposing and releasing an isolation or a quarantine. The rules must include provisions related to: (c) The tests or treatment,including vaccination, for communicable disease required before employment or admission to the premises or to comply with an isolation or a quarantine. Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.