Now is the time to track your state level legislation around vaccinations. To find out about bills and actions you can sign up for the free citizen level versions of a variety of “bill tracking services” – apps that will send you emails daily or in weekly digests, on topics and keywords you use.
Pennsylvania Senate Bill 196 was reintroduced to the PA Senate on Jan. 29, 2025,
Regular Session 2025-2026 Senate Bill 196 reintroduced to the PA Senate on Jan. 29, 2025 Currently, Pennsylvania requires hospitals to offer influenza vaccine during influenza season to inpatients, age 65 and older, prior to their discharge. However, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention now identifies individuals aged 50 and older to be at increased risk for severe illness and complications from influenza. As we age, our immune systems weaken and we are more likely to have underlying health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, or cardiovascular disease. In fact, 60% of all individuals aged 50-64 live with one or more Chronic Health Conditions while 75% of individuals aged 65 and older live with one or more Chronic Health Conditions. Consequently, this legislation lowers the influenza offering from age 65 and older down to age 50 and older and the inpatient may still accept or decline the vaccine for any reason.
My letter to my state senator:
Please support Senate Bill 196 to lower the age to 50 for the Elderly Immunization Act which requires hospitals to offer inpatients the flu vaccine during flu season. The age is currently 65 but it’s been recommended for people 50+ and the uptake on vaccines like flu and covid shows that people just don’t know,. In fact, At the June 2024 CDC ACIP meeting Dr. Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH felt universal recommendations for the COVID vaccines was imperative because she said: “I was really struck with the low proportion of healthcare providers that recommended, and given what we know about influenza and other vaccines and the critical role that healthcare providers play in recommending vaccines, I wondered what we did know about healthcare provider attitudes and what some of the barriers may be. And as an aside, it worries me that if it were not a universal recommendation, that the role of the healthcare provider in identifying and appropriately counseling those with risk would that would become even more problematic.” I can tell you what the barrier is – doctors are not required to inform their patients, and so they don’t. It’s really as simple as that. Pennsylvania should expand the rule beyond hospital inpatients. Vaccine uptake requires a concerted campaign.