Proposed bill could make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• New York Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal has proposed a measure that would make the COVID-19 vaccine ‘mandatory’ for residents.
• Health professionals are aiming to achieve “herd immunity,” that would effectively mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
• A person may be exempted from the mandatory vaccine if he or she has a medical reason endorsed by a medical professional.

A local legislator in New York suggested imposing mandatory COVID-19 vaccine to residents if only a few would volunteer to take the doses once the vaccine is out.

According to the language of the legislation, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal of Manhattan’s West Side has proposed a bill requiring New York to “safely and effectively” disburse an FDA-approved vaccine “in accordance with the department of health]’s COVID-19 vaccination administration program” last week.

The bill’s supporting memo states that “while steps have been taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19, epidemiologists and public health experts have concluded that a vaccine will be necessary to develop herd immunity and ultimately stop the spread of the disease.”

“[T]he State must make efforts to promote vaccination and ensure that a high enough percentage of the population is vaccinated against COVID-19 to develop sufficient immunity,” the statement added.

The Department of Health has the authority to “mandate vaccination” to any person who is qualified to be administered if local health authorities observed that New York residents are not progressing towards developing strong immunity versus COVID-19.

Public health officials would need to set a guideline since the measure does not specifically define what “sufficient immunity” means. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), experts are still clueless about the percentage of people needed to get the shots to gain “herd immunity” against the coronavirus.

The agency defines “herd immunity” as a term “when enough people have protection—either from previous infection or vaccination—that it is unlikely a virus or bacteria can spread and cause disease.”

“As a result, everyone within the community is protected even if some people don’t have any protection themselves.”

The measure, called Assembly Bill A11179, would allow a person to be medically exempted from the compulsory vaccination provided that he or she would present a letter from a health professional.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced that the initial doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine would proceed to nursing home staff and residents by next week. Moderna’s vaccine is expected to follow suit.

Source: Fox News