Legislature(2011 - 2012)SENATE FINANCE 532
02/15/2012 09:00 AM Senate FINANCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB104 | |
| SB130 | |
| SB144 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 104 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 130 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 144 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SENATE BILL NO. 144
"An Act temporarily reinstating the child and adult
immunization program in the Department of Health and
Social Services; and providing for an effective date."
SENATOR CATHY GIESSEL presented SB 144 and stated that the
legislation would restore funding for the state's vaccine
program and benefit every single Alaskan. She related a
story about George Washington and the history of
vaccination. She observed that although the older
generation of Americans had all received a small pox
immunization, children in America were not currently
receiving that vaccination because the vaccine had
eliminated that disease from the world. She stated that
vaccine had a significant impact and discussed a 1925
incident in Nome that was referred to as "the great race of
mercy." In 1925, diphtheria was sweeping through Nome,
which only had one physician and four nurses. The physician
in Nome at the time sent word out that the anti-toxin for
diphtheria was needed; the only way to get the anti-toxin
to Nome was via dog sled. She observed that the Iditarod
Race celebrated the great race of mercy and noted that the
anti-toxin had saved lives in the community of Nome. She
discussed the symptoms of diphtheria and how it used to be
treated. The diphtheria vaccination was combined with
several other immunizations in the same vaccine, which also
contained tetanus, also known as "lock jaw", and pertussis,
otherwise known as "whooping cough." She discussed a 2009
outbreak of whooping cough in Juneau and related that it
was a serious disease, particularly for young children
because it impaired their ability to breathe. She shared
that because of vaccine, whooping cough was able to be
controlled and related that vaccines had nearly eliminated
polio from the world. She stated that the late Senator, Ted
Stevens, had secured funding for a universal vaccine
program in Alaska that would provide vaccination for
children and adults. She shared that there were two sources
of funding for vaccines in Alaska; one source was for
children's vaccines and was a secured source. She pointed
out that other source of funding was from Section 317 of
U.S. Public Health Code, but that this funding source was
not secure and had been significantly decreased. The
Section 317 funding used to equal $4.3 million, but Alaska
would only receive $700,000 in the upcoming fiscal year.
She related that the governor had already included $700,000
in his budget and that SB 144 would provide an additional
$2.9 million.
10:46:13 AM
Senator Ellis indicated that he had been contacted by a
number of individuals regarding SB 144. He stated that
people seemed to generally support the bill, but had
questions as to why the program did not include the HPV and
meningococcal meningitis vaccines. He mentioned that both
vaccines were recommended for teenage boys and girls.
Senator Giessel responded that her focus was to craft a
bill that addressed the required vaccines for children who
were entering school, as well as diseases that adults carry
that are deadly or contagious to children. She stated that
the Section 317 funding had been decreasing and that the
cost-benefit ratio was lower on the HPV and meningococcal
meningitis vaccines; the Division of Public Health had
examined the cost-benefit ratio of different vaccines and
had eliminated those two vaccines first, when the funding
had begun to fall. She concluded that the bill's funding
was "seriously" needed and that she had crafted legislation
that was very likely to pass.
Senator Ellis inquired if the exclusion of the HPV and
meningococcal meningitis vaccines was purely based on
funding or whether it was a political decision regarding
HPV. Senator Giessel responded that the bill gave the power
to add additional vaccines, should funding become
available, to the commissioner of the Department of Health
and Social Services.
Co-Chair Stedman discussed a fiscal note from the
Department of Health and Social Services in the amount of
$2.9 million in general fund cost for the next three fiscal
years.
MARY SULLIVAN, COORDINATOR, ALASKA PRIMARY CARE
ASSOCIATION, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), expressed the
association's strong support of SB 144, as well its
companion bill in the House of Representatives. She stated
that the association represented Alaska's community health
centers, which served uninsured and underinsured
individuals across the state. She related that one of the
association's smaller clinics in Talkeetna would be in zero
compliance with immunizations due to a lack of funding. She
related that neither the association nor its providers had
expressed a problem with the legislation's exclusion of the
HPV and meningococcal meningitis vaccines.
10:52:23 AM
AT EASE
10:52:29 AM
RECONVENED
ROSALYN SINGLETON, ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM,
ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), testified in support of SB
144. She related that when she had started as a
pediatrician in Alaska, more than 40 infants per year were
hospitalized with hib meningitis; some of the infants died,
while 30 percent were left with permanent brain damage or
deafness. She shared that before vaccines, Alaska also had
large epidemics of hepatitis A, but that an effective
vaccine had been licensed and had nearly eliminated
hepatitis A from Alaska. She shared that there had been no
outbreaks of hepatitis A since the release of the vaccine
in 1995 and that there had been a significant amount of
money saved as a result. She mentioned that measles had
been under control in Alaska since 1998. She offered that
the legislation was a "stop-gap" effort to increase access
to vaccines and that if the bill did not pass, the state
immunization program would be unable to provide any
vaccines to children outside of the federally funded
vaccines for the uninsured, Medicaid users, and Alaska
Native children. She concluded that when faced with the
high cost of vaccines, many medical practices were not
providing vaccines at all and that many parents were
deferring vaccines until it was required for school; these
factors represented an increased risk to Alaska's public
health.
GEORGE BROWN, ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS ALASKA & ALL ALASKA
PEDIATRIC PARTNERSHIP, spoke in support of SB 144. He
stated that Washington and New Hampshire had programs in
which pharmacists, the makers of vaccines, insurance
companies, and the legislated public funds for vaccines
were in one program that provided universal vaccines. He
offered that vaccines clearly helped to contain the costs
of healthcare.
10:57:21 AM
WARD HURLBURT, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
AND SOCIAL SERVICES, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF PUBLIC HEALTH,
testified in support of SB 144. He related that when he had
started practicing in Alaska in 1961, 25 out of every 1,000
children who were born died from "these diseases," but that
currently, only seven children out of every 1,000 born died
per year from all the causes of death combined.["These
diseases" was made in reference to diseases that are
preventable through vaccines.] He shared that 37 states put
state money towards buying vaccines and stated that
immunization was both an individual and a public issue. He
observed that immunizing a person protected that individual
from a disease, but that "herd immunity," which protected
others, took place when there was sufficient immunization
within a population. He discussed an outbreak of whooping
cough in California, which had infected over 2,000 children
and killed ten infants. He stated that the vaccines in the
bill were selected with fiscal prudence and public health
in mind. He pointed out that "quality adjusted life-year"
was a term that referred to the cost of saving a year of a
person's life and that the immunizations that were covered
by the legislation were those that cost $25,000 or less per
year; the vaccinations that were not selected in the
legislation were those that cost $50,000 per year or more.
Mr. Rose expressed the Association of Alaska School Boards'
support of SB 144.
11:00:05 AM
SB 144 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
Co-Chair Stedman discussed the following meeting's agenda.