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Vaccine bill separates Colorado from
US Health and Human Services recommendations
CapitolCommons.ai Is the Complete Re-build of ColoradoCapitolWatch.com
SB26-032, Promoting Immunization Access, sets immunization rules for Colorado that differ from the US Department of Health and Human Services. The bill significantly restructures Colorado’s vaccine policy framework by expanding access points, broadening decision-making authority beyond federal guidance, updating liability standards, and modernizing insurance and public-health statutes.
The bill allows vaccine recommendations to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics and similar authoritative entities. The bill particularly focuses on HPV vaccinations for males and females to prevent sexually transmitted disease. Pharmacists may prescribe vaccines. Uninsured and underinsured minors are included for vaccination access.
School vaccination rules are clarified. The bill updates school-entry immunization statutes to reference both state and ACIP immunization schedules and reduces legal ambiguity for schools and providers regarding compliance with vaccination requirements. Importantly, the bill removes restrictions that prevented state funding of infant immunization programs when federal funds are unavailable.
Overall, the bill gives the state more authority over vaccination programs to give every child an opportunity to receive a full vaccination schedule to reduce possibility of infection from preventable diseases, including the usual suspects.
Those of us who grew up before vaccinations became available can testify to the tyranny of these contagious diseases during our childhood. Fear of polio was an everyday experience. Measles, mumps, chicken pox, and German measles wiped out classrooms as viruses flew from kid to kid. These viruses could not only create severe illness and death, but stimulate immune reactions that led to chronic auto-immune diseases such as juvenile diabetes and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
As a clarification from yesterday's commentary, SB26-027 advocates state The PEACE Act will strengthen the presumption of the best interest of the child by requiring evidence rather than allegations that a parent is unfit or unsafe before a parent is restricted from their child.
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