2023 New York Laws › PBH - Public Health › Article 6 - State Aid to Cities and Counties › Title 2 - State Aid for Additional Services › 613 - State Aid; Immunization.

§  613. State aid; immunization. 1. (a) The commissioner shall develop
and supervise the execution of a program of  immunization,  surveillance
and  testing,  to  raise to the highest reasonable level the immunity of
the children of the state against communicable diseases  including,  but
not  limited  to,  influenza,  poliomyelitis,  measles,  mumps, rubella,
haemophilus influenzae type b  (Hib),  diphtheria,  pertussis,  tetanus,
varicella, hepatitis B, pneumococcal disease, and the immunity of adults
of  the state against diseases identified by the commissioner, including
but not  limited  to  influenza,  smallpox,  hepatitis  and  such  other
diseases   as   the   commissioner  may  designate  through  regulation.
Municipalities  in  the  state  shall   maintain   local   programs   of
immunization  to  raise  the immunity of the children and adults of each
municipality to the highest reasonable  level,  in  accordance  with  an
application  for state aid submitted by the municipality and approved by
the commissioner. Such programs shall include assurance of provision  of
vaccine,  serological  testing of individuals and educational efforts to
inform health care providers and target populations or their parents, if
they  are  minors,  of  the  facts  relative  to  these   diseases   and
immunizations to prevent their occurrence.
(b)  In  connection  with  efforts  to  raise the immunity of children
against influenza,  the  commissioner  shall  administer  a  program  of
influenza  education  to  the  families  of  children ages six months to
eighteen years of age  who  attend  licensed  and  registered  day  care
programs,  nursery  schools,  pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, school age
child care programs, public schools or non-public schools. Such  program
shall  include  educational  materials  on influenza and the benefits of
influenza immunizations to be made available on the department's website
in anticipation of times of highest risk for contraction of influenza as
determined by the  commissioner.  The  office  of  children  and  family
services,  the department of education, and the New York city department
of  health  and  mental  hygiene  shall,  as  part  of   their   routine
notification   processes,   notify  licensed  and  registered  day  care
programs,  nursery  schools,  pre-kindergarten  programs,   kindergarten
programs,  school age child care programs, public schools and non-public
schools that the information regarding immunizations  for  influenza  is
free  and  accessible  on  the department's website and such information
shall be posted in such  licensed  and  registered  day  care  programs,
nursery schools, pre-kindergartens, kindergartens, school age child care
programs,  public  schools  and  non-public  schools  in  plain  view in
anticipation of such times of highest risk for contraction of  influenza
as determined by the commissioner.
(c)  The commissioner shall invite and encourage the active assistance
and cooperation in such education activities of: the medical  societies,
organizations   of   other   licensed   health   personnel,   hospitals,
corporations subject to article forty-three of the insurance law,  trade
unions, trade associations, parents and teachers and their associations,
organizations of child care resource and referral agencies, the media of
mass communication, and such other voluntary groups and organizations of
citizens  as  he  or  she  shall deem appropriate. The public health and
health planning council, the department of education, the department  of
family  assistance,  and  the department of mental hygiene shall provide
the commissioner with such assistance in carrying out the program as  he
or  she  shall  request. All other state agencies shall also render such
assistance as the commissioner may reasonably require for this  program.
Nothing  in  this  subdivision shall authorize mandatory immunization of
adults or children, except as provided in  sections  twenty-one  hundred
sixty-four and twenty-one hundred sixty-five of this chapter.
2.  The  commissioner  shall  set  such  standards  as  he  shall deem
necessary for the proper, safe,  and  efficient  administration  of  the
program.  He shall direct an annual survey to determine the immunization
level of children entering school, and shall conduct annually  an  audit
of  such  survey  and  an  audit  of  the immunization level of children
attending school. State aid provided by this article shall be reduced by
ten percent, provided however that state aid for essential public health
activities shall not be reduced, unless a municipality has submitted, in
cooperation with local school districts, a plan within ninety days after
the commissioner shall have certified to such municipality  the  results
of  his survey of the immunization level of children entering schools in
such local school districts. Such plan shall be submitted for  the  next
ensuing  school  year  and a subsequent plan shall be submitted annually
thereafter for assuring  that  immunizing  agents  are  administered  to
pre-school children within a reasonable time prior to but, in any event,
no  later than their entrance into school, and to students generally, as
required pursuant to  section  twenty-one  hundred  sixty-four  of  this
chapter.  Such  plan  shall  include  the  manner  in which immunization
activities are coordinated among the  local  health  authority  and  the
school districts. Such reduction in state aid and the requirement that a
municipality  submit an immunization plan shall not be applicable to any
municipality where ninety percent  or  more  of  its  children  entering
school   are   immunized.   The   determination  of  the  percentage  of
immunization shall be made by the commissioner based upon his  audit  of
immunization surveys.
3.  The  commissioner shall expend such funds as the legislature shall
make available for the purpose of adult and child immunization programs,
including quality assurance and immunization education:
(a) directly through the department;
(b) by allocation  to  municipalities  with  qualifying  programs  for
reimbursement in accordance with provisions of this section; or
(c) by contract.
4.  The  commissioner shall expend such funds as the legislature shall
make available for the purchase of the vaccines described in subdivision
one of this section. Vaccines purchased with funds made available  under
this  section shall be made available without charge to licensed private
physicians, hospitals, clinics and such others as the commissioner shall
determine, and no charge shall be made to any patient for such vaccines.