Senate Bill No. 38
(By Senator Holliday)
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[Introduced February 10, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources; and
then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections four and five, article
three, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
compulsory immunization of school children; adding
hepatitis-b and mumps to the list of diseases for which
immunization is required; and providing for the free
distribution of the vaccines.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections four and five, article three, chapter sixteen
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-
one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF COMMUNICABLE AND OTHER
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
§16-3-4. Compulsory immunization of school children; information
disseminated; offenses; penalties.
Whenever a resident birth occurs, the state director ofhealth shall promptly provide parents of the newborn child with
information on immunizations mandated by this state or required
for admission to a public school in this state.
All children entering school for the first time in this
state shall have been immunized against diphtheria, hepatitis-b,
mumps, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough. Any
person who cannot give satisfactory proof of having been
immunized previously or a certificate from a reputable physician
showing that an immunization for any or all diphtheria,
hepatitis-b, mumps, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus and whooping
cough is impossible or improper or sufficient reason why any or
all immunizations should not be done, shall be immunized for
diphtheria, hepatitis-b, mumps, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus
and whooping cough prior to being admitted in any of the schools
in the state. No child or person shall be admitted or received
in any of the schools of the state until he or she has been
immunized as hereinafter provided or produces a certificate from
a reputable physician showing that an immunization for
diphtheria, hepatitis-b, mumps, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus
and whooping cough has been done or is impossible or improper or
other sufficient reason why such immunizations have not been
done. Any teacher having information concerning any person who
attempts to enter school for the first time without having been
immunized against diphtheria, hepatitis-b, mumps, polio, rubeola,
rubella, tetanus and whooping cough shall report the names of all
such persons to the county health officer. It shall be the dutyof the health officer in counties having a full-time health
officer to see that such persons are immunized before entering
school: Provided, That persons enrolling from schools outside of
the state may be provisionally enrolled under minimum criteria
established by the director of the department of health so that
the person's immunization may be completed while missing a
minimum amount of school: Provided, however, That no person
shall be allowed to enter school without at least one dose of
each required vaccine.
In counties where there is no full-time health officer or
district health officer, the county commission or municipal
council shall appoint competent physicians to do the
immunizations and fix their compensation. County health
departments shall furnish the biologicals for this immunization
free of charge.
Health officers and physicians who shall do this
immunization work shall give to all persons and children a
certificate free of charge showing that they have been immunized
against diphtheria, hepatitis-b, mumps, polio, rubeola, rubella,
tetanus and whooping cough, or he or she may give the certificate
to any person or child whom he or she knows to have been
immunized against diphtheria, hepatitis-b, mumps, polio, rubeola,
rubella, tetanus and whooping cough. If any physician shall give
any person a false certificate of immunization against
diphtheria, hepatitis-b, mumps, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus
and whooping cough, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than twenty-five
nor more than one hundred dollars.
Any parent or guardian who refuses to permit his or her
child to be immunized against diphtheria, hepatitis-b, mumps,
polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough, who cannot
give satisfactory proof that the child or person has been
immunized against diphtheria, hepatitis-b, mumps, polio, rubeola,
rubella, tetanus and whooping cough previously, or a certificate
from a reputable physician showing that immunization for any or
all is impossible or improper, or sufficient reason why any or
all immunizations should not be done, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and except as herein otherwise provided, shall, upon
conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more
than fifty dollars for each offense.
§16-3-5. Distribution of free vaccine preventives of disease.
The state director of health shall acquire vaccine for the
prevention of polio, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria,
hepatitis-b, pertusis, tetanus, smallpox and other vaccine
preventives of disease as may be deemed necessary or required by
law, and shall distribute the same, free of charge, in such
quantities as he may deem necessary, to county and municipal
health officers, to be used by them for the benefit of, and
without expense to the citizens within their respective
jurisdictions, to check contagions and control epidemics.
The county and municipal health officers shall have the
responsibility to properly store and distribute, free of charge,vaccines to private medical or osteopathic physicians within
their jurisdictions to be utilized to check contagions and
control epidemics: Provided, That the private medical or
osteopathic physicians shall not make a charge for the vaccine
itself when administering it to a patient. The county and
municipal health officers shall provide a receipt to the state
director of health for any vaccine delivered as herein provided.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to add hepatitis-b and
mumps to the list of diseases for which school children are
required to be immunized. The bill also provides for the free
distribution of the necessary vaccines.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.