Photo Courtesy of Harvard Medical School
Governor Cuomo urged “all New Yorkers to protect themselves and their families, get a flu shot and join us in stamping out the spread of this dangerous virus.”
By Forum Staff
Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday announced he is advancing a 30-day budget amendment to encourage pharmacies to enroll in the State Vaccines for Children Program, which provides vaccines at no cost to children that are eligible.
The legislation would codify the executive order signed by Cuomo on Jan. 25 temporarily allowing pharmacists to administer flu vaccines to children ages 2 to 18. The law, which increases convenience and vaccine accessibility for New Yorkers, would permanently suspend the section of State education law that limits the authority of pharmacists to administer immunizing agents to anyone under age 18, the governor noted.
According to the administration, there have been four pediatric influenza deaths this flu season, with a fifth pediatric death currently under investigation, and 8,317 children under the age of 5 have been diagnosed with lab-confirmed influenza, and 731 have been hospitalized. For the last nine weeks, influenza has been geographically widespread across the state. As of Feb. 3, 52,567 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza have been reported; 11,802 people have been hospitalized with influenza in New York State this season.
During last year’s flu season, there were 12,912 flu-related hospitalizations and eight pediatric deaths in New York. Over the last four years, there have been a total of 25 pediatric flu deaths in the state and an average of 10,571 flu-related hospitalizations a year.
Parents and guardians with children between the ages of 6 months and 24 months are still encouraged to see their primary care provider for the vaccination, Cuomo said.
“As flu diagnoses continue to grow, we must do everything we can to ensure all New Yorkers have access to the flu vaccine to protect them now and in the future,” the governor said. “I urge all New Yorkers to protect themselves and their families, get a flu shot and join us in stamping out the spread of this dangerous virus.”
Additionally, to support the increasing demand for pediatric vaccinations as a result of the executive order, and to ensure cost of the shot is not a barrier to getting vaccinated, Cuomo called on individual physicians to enroll in the State Vaccines for Children Program.
According to the State, a child is eligible for a Program vaccine if he or she is younger than 19 years of age and meets any of the following criteria:
• Do not have health insurance,
• Underinsured (have commercial health insurance but it does not cover the flu vaccine, or the insurance caps coverage at a certain amount or number of visits),
• Native American or Alaska Native,
• Medicaid-enrolled or Medicaid-eligible, or
• Enrolled in Child Health Plus.
“After the governor signed the executive order allowing pharmacists to administer the flu vaccine to children, we’ve seen an increase in the number of families taking advantage of this initiative and it makes perfect sense to make this permanent,” said State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, M.D. “The flu continues to be widespread in our state and if you haven’t yet been vaccinated, get vaccinated as soon as possible.”
