Youngstown Daily Legal News

Family tragedy prompts lawmaker to push for meningitis immunization

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: April 21, 2015

In the last General Assembly, Sen. Cliff Hite successfully campaigned for a bill to raise awareness about the deadly disease that claimed his 5-year-old niece.

This legislative session, he’s trying to prevent other children from having the same fate.

Senate Bill 121 would amend state law to require students be immunized against meningococcal disease at an age recommended by the Ohio Department of Health.

Meningococcal disease, commonly referred to as meningitis, is considered rare but deadly, leading to death in up to 15 percent of cases.

The disease, often mistaken for the flu or a viral infection, can strike victims quickly.

Of those who survive, as many as 20 percent live with permanent disabilities, such as brain damage, hearing loss, loss of kidney function or limb amputation.

“As many of you know, my niece, Tess, died within hours of contracting meningitis and my family became committed to honoring her memory,” said Hite, R-Findlay, in sponsor testimony before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

“Last year, you honored her memory by helping me pass ‘Tess’s Law’ to mark each March 9 as ‘Meningitis Awareness Day.’ I am continuing my commitment to Tess and other victims of this disease by introducing SB 121.”

With certain exceptions, the bill would require pupils who are at least the ODH-recommended age and attend public or nonpublic schools subject to minimum state educational standards be immunized against meningococcal disease.

The immunization requirement would first apply to the 2016-17 school year.

Under current law, schools must maintain records that indicate, upon enrollment, students have been immunized against mumps, polio, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, rubeola (measles) and rubella.

A pupil entering kindergarten must generally also present written evidence of having been immunized against hepatitis B and chicken pox.

Hite said he worked on the proposed legislation with the Ohio chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Immunization Advocacy Network of Ohio.

A fiscal analysis of SB 121 determined that because schools are already required to maintain immunization records, there should be no additional cost in complying with the bill’s provisions at the local level.

At the state level, signing the measure into law could have a negligible effect on the health department’s administrative burden.

“The bill, in its current form, requires the department of health to specify ages at which immunization against meningococcal disease is recommended,” Hite said.

The Centers for Disease Control currently recommends vaccination against meningitis at ages 11-12, with a booster at 16.

The schedule is designed to prepare students for the high-risk environments of high school and college.

According to a bill summary, SB 121 specifies that a pupil may not be permitted to remain in school for more than 14 days unless the pupil presents written evidence satisfactory to the person in charge of admission that he or she has been immunized against meningococcal disease by an ODH-approved immunization method or is in the process of being immunized against the disease.

“In the process of being immunized” means the student has received at least the first dose of the immunization sequence and presents written evidence to the school’s principal or chief administrative officer of each subsequent dose.

“This legislation is in line with current law on immunizations and would place meningitis on the list of diseases our students are vaccinated against,” Hite said, adding the bill would protect a parent’s right to opt their children out of the required immunizations.

As outlined in SB 121, two of the three exceptions to existing school immunization requirements would apply to the meningococcal disease requirement.

A student would not have to provide proof of meningococcal immunization if he or she presents a written statement from the student’s parent or guardian stating that the parent or guardian is declining to have the pupil immunized for reasons of conscience, including religious convictions; or if the student’s physician certifies in writing that immunization is medically contraindicated for the pupil.

With regard to cost, SB 121 does not indicate how the cost of immunization is to be paid.

“If we can prevent even one death with the passage of this bill, we will have made a difference,” Hite said.

SB 121 is co-sponsored by Sens. Kenny Yuko, Joe Schiavoni, Bill Seitz, Sandra Williams, Dave Burke, Frank LaRose, William Coley, Cecil Thomas, Shannon Jones, Peggy Lehner and Tom Patton.

The bill has not been scheduled for additional hearings.

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