HB1487: relative to the procedure for withdrawal from the vaccine registry.

CHAPTER 307

HB 1487 - FINAL VERSION

15Mar2022... 0983h

26May2022... 2040CofC

2022 SESSION

22-2364

05/10

HOUSE BILL 1487

AN ACT relative to the procedure for withdrawal from the vaccine registry.

SPONSORS: Rep. Prout, Hills. 37; Rep. Blasek, Hills. 21; Rep. Binford, Graf. 15; Rep. Johnson, Belk. 3; Rep. T. Lekas, Hills. 37

COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill provides that an individual's request to withdraw from the state immunization registry shall be signed by a current or former health care provider or notarized by an authorized government official.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

15Mar2022... 0983h

26May2022... 2040CofC 22-2364

05/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Two

AN ACT relative to the procedure for withdrawal from the vaccine registry.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

307:1 Legislative Findings.

I. Immunizations and vaccines are often distributed by pharmacists, clinics, and other settings where the patient has a loose and transient relationship with the health care provider.

II. However, the department of health and human services process for withdrawal and removal of information from the New Hampshire immunization/vaccination registry requires a signature from a current or former health care provider.

III. It may be difficult or impossible for an individual who does not receive regular health care to track down a former transient providers for the purpose of signing the form prescribed by the department for this purpose.

IV. To ensure that an individual's right to withdraw from participation in the immunization/vaccination registry is effectively available to all residents of New Hampshire, if they so choose, the general court finds that limiting the requirement to a current or former health care provider to sign the form is an undue burden that does not further a legitimate state interest.

307:2 New Paragraph; Communicable Disease; Immunization Registry. Amend RSA 141-C:20-f by inserting after paragraph III the following new paragraph:

III-a. A patient, or the patient's parent or guardian if the patient is a minor, may withdraw from participation in, and request the removal of information from, the registry at any time by submitting a request for withdrawal directly to the department of health and human services. The form shall be signed by a health care provider, or the form shall be notarized by an official authorized by a governmental authority to notarize the signature. If the patient is a minor, the form shall require the signature of a health care provider or the notarized signature of the minor's parent or legal guardian. The form provided by the department shall include information and consequences of withdrawing from the registry and that the responsibility to maintain vaccination records becomes the responsibility of the patient or the patient’s parent or guardian if the patient is a minor.

307:3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

Approved: July 01, 2022

Effective Date: August 30, 2022