New York may make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory

New York State may mandate COVID-19 vaccination if not enough residents in the region voluntarily vaccinate. The publication told about the new legislative idea Fox 5.

Assemblyman Linda Rosenthal has introduced legislation that would require the state to "safely and effectively" distribute the FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine "in line with the Department of Health's vaccination program."

“While steps have been taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19, epidemiologists and public health experts have concluded that the vaccine will be necessary to develop herd immunity and, as a consequence, to stop the spread of the disease,” the memorandum of support for the bill says.

“The 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 memo says.

After the vaccination program has been rolled out for some time, the Department of Health will have the power to “prescribe vaccinations” to anyone who can “get vaccinated safely” if officials find New Yorkers are not developing “sufficient immunity against COVID. nineteen".

The draft law does not define what is meant by "sufficient immunity", therefore, presumably, health officials will have to set this benchmark on their own.

On the subject: Everything You Wanted To Know About COVID-19 Vaccines In Five Pictures

Currently, experts do not know what percentage of the population needs to be vaccinated in order to achieve so-called herd immunity to COVID-19.

“Herd immunity is a term used to describe a situation where enough people are protected from the virus - because they have already been ill or have been vaccinated. In this case, it is unlikely that a virus or bacteria can spread massively and cause illness. As a result, everyone in the community is protected from the virus, even if some people do not have immunity to it, ”the CDC explained.

The Rosenthal bill provides for an exemption from vaccinations for medical reasons, which must be confirmed in writing by a licensed healthcare professional.

Now bill # A11179 is under consideration by the committee.

Pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna have developed vaccine candidates that have performed very well in Phase III clinical trials. Pfizer and Moderna are awaiting emergency FDA approval on December 10 and 17, respectively. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the first batch of Pfizer vaccine doses will reach nursing homes - for residents and staff - as early as next week. The first batch of doses of Moderna vaccine will arrive shortly thereafter.

You can find out more about vaccines, their cost and effectiveness in our infographic.