Community Immunity During COVID–19 Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4737 To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to covered health departments to increase the rate of recommended immunizations, and for other pur- poses. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 Ms. SMITH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Sec- retary of Health and Human Services to make grants to covered health departments to increase the rate of recommended immunizations, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Immunity 4 During COVID–19 Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4737 IS SEC. 2. GRANTS TO INCREASE THE RATE OF IMMUNIZA- 1 TIONS. 2 Section 317 of the Public Health Service Act (42 3 U.S.C. 247b) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing new subsection: 5 ‘‘(n) GRANTS TO INCREASE THE RATE OF IMMUNI- 6 ZATIONS.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 8 through the Director of the Centers for Disease 9 Control and Prevention, shall make grants to cov- 10 ered health departments to increase the rate of rec- 11 ommended immunizations during the COVID–19 12 public health emergency. 13 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS.—A covered health depart- 14 ment receiving a grant under this section may use 15 funds received through the grant for the following: 16 ‘‘(A) Providing funds to programs that in- 17 crease the rate of recommended immunizations 18 during the COVID–19 public health emergency, 19 including supporting evidence-based outreach 20 and educational activities in communities served 21 by the covered health department involved. 22 ‘‘(B) Supporting efforts by health care 23 providers to communicate the importance of 24 maintaining immunization schedules and vis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4737 IS iting a primary care provider during the 1 COVID–19 public health emergency. 2 ‘‘(C) Increasing awareness with respect to 3 health insurance options and programs that re- 4 duce the cost of vaccines, including the Vac- 5 cines for Children program (or similar pro- 6 gram) carried out by the Centers for Disease 7 Control and Prevention. 8 ‘‘(D) Evaluating efforts to increase the 9 rate of recommended immunizations in commu- 10 nities described in subparagraph (A) during the 11 COVID–19 public health emergency. 12 ‘‘(E) Developing and distributing culturally 13 and linguistically appropriate messages about 14 the importance of recommended immunizations 15 during the COVID–19 public health emergency, 16 including vaccines licensed under section 351 of 17 this Act to prevent the virus that causes 18 COVID–19. 19 ‘‘(F) Combating misinformation and disin- 20 formation with respect to vaccines and the safe- 21 ty of vaccines, including a vaccine that will be 22 licensed under section 351 of this Act or au- 23 thorized for emergency use under section 564 of 24 the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4737 IS U.S.C. 300bbb–3) to prevent the virus that 1 causes COVID–19. 2 ‘‘(3) PARTNERSHIPS.—A covered health depart- 3 ment that receives a grant under this section may 4 develop a partnership with entities and individuals in 5 the communities served by the State, local, or Tribal 6 government involved to carry out the activities under 7 paragraph (3), including— 8 ‘‘(A) a health care provider; 9 ‘‘(B) a local educational agency, including 10 school nurses employed by such agencies; 11 ‘‘(C) an organization that primarily pro- 12 vides health care or social services for— 13 ‘‘(i) groups that have a low rate of 14 immunizations; 15 ‘‘(ii) individuals with a chronic health 16 condition or underlying medical condition 17 associated with increased risk for severe ill- 18 ness from COVID–19; 19 ‘‘(iii) racial and ethnic minority, rural, 20 and other vulnerable populations; or 21 ‘‘(iv) individuals with a limited pro- 22 ficiency in the English language; 23 ‘‘(D) a faith-based organization; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4737 IS ‘‘(E) a long-term care facility, senior cen- 1 ter, or other facility in which recommended im- 2 munizations for older adults may be provided or 3 promoted by the staff of such facility or center; 4 ‘‘(F) a vaccine coalition; 5 ‘‘(G) a pediatric hospital; 6 ‘‘(H) a pharmacy; 7 ‘‘(I) an early childhood education program 8 or child care provider; 9 ‘‘(J) a public elementary, or secondary 10 school; or 11 ‘‘(K) an institution of higher education. 12 ‘‘(4) EVALUATION.—Not later than 18 months 13 after the date on which a covered health department 14 receives a grant under this subsection, the covered 15 health department shall submit to the Secretary an 16 evaluation on the effectiveness of the activities car- 17 ried out using such funds to increase the rate of rec- 18 ommended immunizations. 19 ‘‘(5) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 20 years after the date of the enactment of this sub- 21 section, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re- 22 port that includes— 23 ‘‘(A) an evaluation of the effectiveness of 24 the activities under paragraph (3) to increase 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4737 IS the rate of recommended immunizations, based 1 on the evaluations submitted pursuant to para- 2 graph (6); and 3 ‘‘(B) recommendations to increase the rate 4 of recommended immunizations, including rec- 5 ommendations with respect to any public health 6 emergency that occurs in the future. 7 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection: 9 ‘‘(i) COVERED HEALTH DEPART- 10 MENT.—The term ‘covered health depart- 11 ment’ means the public health department 12 of a State, local, or Tribal government. 13 ‘‘(ii) COVID–19 PUBLIC HEALTH 14 EMERGENCY.—The term ‘COVID–19 pub- 15 lic health emergency’ means the public 16 health emergency declared by the Secretary 17 of Health and Human Services under sec- 18 tion 319 of this Act on January 31, 2020, 19 with respect to COVID–19. 20 ‘‘(iii) EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 21 PROGRAM.—The term ‘early childhood edu- 22 cation program’ has the meaning given 23 such term in section 103 of the Higher 24 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1003). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4737 IS ‘‘(iv) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘In- 1 dian tribe’ has the meaning given such 2 term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter- 3 mination and Education Assistance Act 4 (25 U.S.C. 5304). 5 ‘‘(v) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU- 6 CATION.—The term ‘institution of higher 7 education’ has the meaning given that 8 term in section 101 of the Higher Edu- 9 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 10 ‘‘(vi) RECOMMENDED IMMUNIZA- 11 TIONS.—The term ‘recommended immuni- 12 zations’ means immunizations recommend- 13 ed by the Advisory Committee on Immuni- 14 zation Practices of the Centers for Disease 15 Control and Prevention. 16 ‘‘(vii) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The 17 term ‘tribal organization’ has the meaning 18 given such term in section 4 of the Indian 19 Self-Determination and Education Assist- 20 ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 21 ‘‘(B) OTHER TERMS.—In this subsection, 22 the terms ‘elementary school’, ‘secondary 23 school’, and ‘local educational agency’ have the 24 meanings given such terms in section 8101 of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4737 IS the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 1 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 2 ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this sub- 4 section, there is authorized to be appropriated, 5 $560,000,000 to remain available until ex- 6 pended. 7 ‘‘(B) APPORTIONMENT.—In awarding 8 grant funds under this subsection, the Sec- 9 retary shall apportion the amounts appropriated 10 to carry out this subsection as follows: 11 ‘‘(i) Not less than 50 percent of such 12 funds to State and Tribal public health de- 13 partments. 14 ‘‘(ii) Not less than 50 percent of such 15 funds to local health departments. 16 ‘‘(iii) Based on the population of the 17 State, local, or Tribal government involved. 18 ‘‘(C) TRIBAL FUNDS.—Of total amount 19 appropriated under subparagraph (A), not less 20 than 3 percent and not more than 5 percent of 21 such amount shall be reserved for non-competi- 22 tive and formula-based awards to Indian Tribes 23 and Tribal organizations.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4737 IS SEC. 3. COVID–19 VACCINE GUIDANCE. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 months after the 2 date of enactment of this section, the Director of the Cen- 3 ters for Disease Control and Prevention (in this section 4 referred to as the ‘‘Director’’), in consultation with the 5 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and Cen- 6 ters for Medicare & Medicaid Services, shall develop and 7 distribute to health care providers and State education 8 agencies guidance to provide health counseling services 9 with respect to a vaccine licensed under section 351 of 10 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262) or author- 11 ized for emergency use under section 564 of the Federal 12 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 300bbb–3) for 13 the prevention, mitigation, or treatment of COVID–19. 14 (b) CONTENT.—The guidance developed pursuant to 15 subsection (a) shall— 16 (1) be aligned with evidence-based practices; 17 and 18 (2) include information that is culturally appro- 19 priate. 20 (c) UPDATE.—The Director shall periodically update 21 and distribute, as appropriate, the guidance developed 22 pursuant to subsection (a). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4737 IS (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 1 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 2 $2,500,000 to remain available until expended. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4737.IS S4737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS