North Carolina § 130A-153 - Obtaining immunization; reporting by local health departments; access to immunization information in patient records; immunization of minors.

§ 130A-153. Obtaining immunization; reporting by local health departments; access to immunization information in patient records; immunization of minors.

The required immunization may be obtained from a physician licensed to practice medicine, from a local health department, or in the case of a person at least 18 years of age, from an immunizing pharmacist. Local health departments shall administer required and State-supplied immunizations at no cost to uninsured or underinsured patients with family incomes below two hundred percent (200%) of the federal poverty level. A local health department may redistribute these vaccines only in accordance with the rules of the Commission. Local health departments shall file monthly immunization reports with the Department. The report shall be filed on forms prepared by the Department and shall state, at a minimum, each patient's age and the number of doses of each type of vaccine administered. Immunization certificates and information concerning immunizations contained in medical or other records shall, upon request, be shared with the Department, local health departments, an immunizing pharmacist, and the patient's attending physician. In addition, an insurance institution, agent, or insurance support organization, as those terms are defined in G.S. 58-39-15, may share immunization information with the Department. The Commission may, for the purpose of assisting the Department in enforcing this Part, provide by rule that other persons may have access to immunization information, in whole or in part. A physician or local health department may immunize a minor with the consent of a parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis to the minor. A physician or local health department may also immunize a minor who is presented for immunization by an adult who signs a statement that he or she is authorized by a parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis to the minor to obtain the immunization for the minor. History (1957, c. 1357, s. 1; 1959, c. 177; 1965, c. 652; 1971, c. 191; 1973, c. 476, s. 128; 1979, c. 56, s. 1; 1983, c. 891, s. 2; 1985, c. 743, ss. 1, 2; 1993, c. 134, s. 1; 1999-110, s. 2; 2009-451, s. 10.29A(a); 2010-31, s. 10.13(b); 2013-246, s. 5.) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2009-451, s. 10.29A(c), as added by Session Laws 2010-31, s. 10.13(a), and as amended by Session Laws 2010-123, s. 4.5, provides: "(c) The General Assembly finds that health insurers licensed to practice in this State currently provide reimbursement for the full series of standard immunizations recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Family Physicians and required by the North Carolina Immunization Program. The covered immunizations include all of the following: "(1) Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus Toxoid (DPT). "(2) Polio. "(3) Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR). "(4) Influenza. "(5) Pneumococcal vaccine. "(6) Human Papilloma virus (HPV). "(7) Haemophilus Influenzae Type b (Hib) vaccine. "(8) Hepatitis B. "(9) Meningococcal vaccine. "(10) Varicella. "(11) Rotavirus. "(12) Hepatitis A. "(13) Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (TdaP). "The General Assembly also finds that, consistent with G.S. 130A-153 , physicians and local health departments currently administer the required immunizations listed in subdivisions (1) through (13) of this subsection, which are supplied by the federal government at no cost through the Vaccine For Children (VFC) program, to uninsured and underinsured children with incomes below two hundred percent (200%) of the federal poverty level. Therefore, the General Assembly eliminates the State appropriation for the purchase of childhood vaccines for which health care providers, including local health departments, should be billing health insurers." Session Laws 2009-451, s. 10.29A(d), as added by Session Laws 2010-31, s. 10.13(a), provides: "(d) Of the funds appropriated in this act for the Childhood Immunization Program, the sum of three million dollars ($3,000,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2010-2011 fiscal year shall be used by the Division of Public Health on a onetime basis to provide for the stocking of required childhood vaccines for the 2010-2011 school year for children with health insurance coverage. Local health departments should seek reimbursement from licensed health insurers in order to maintain the necessary inventory of childhood vaccines." Session Laws 2009-451, s. 1.2, provides: "This act shall be known as the 'Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2009'." Session Laws 2009-451, s. 28.5, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2011-315, s. 3, provides: "A pharmacist licensed under Article 4A of Chapter 90 who may administer vaccines under 21 NCAC 46.2507 and 21 NCAC 32U.0101 shall be granted the authority to administer influenza vaccine to patients aged 14 years and older pursuant to 21 NCAC 46.2507 and 21 NCAC 32U.0101." Session Laws 2013-246, s. 7, provides: "Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 1 through 5 of this act, pharmacists who were qualified to administer influenza, pneumococcal, and zoster vaccines prior to the effective date of this act may continue to administer these vaccines in accordance with the provisions of 21 NCAC 46.2507 until June 30, 2014. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 1 through 5 of this act, 21 NCAC 46.2507(c)(5), 21 NCAC 32U.0101(c)(5), or any other provision of law, pharmacists who were qualified to administer influenza, pneumococcal, and zoster vaccines prior to the effective date of this act may administer the influenza vaccine to persons at least 14 years old in accordance with the provisions of 21 NCAC 46.2507 until June 30, 2014." Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2009-451, s. 10.29A(a), effective July 1, 2009, in subsection (a), substituted "patients who are uninsured or underinsured and have family incomes below two hundred percent (200%) of the federal poverty level" for "the patient" at the end of the first sentence, and deleted the former second sentence, which read: "The Department shall provide the vaccines for use by the local health departments." Session Laws 2010-31, s. 10.13(b), effective July 1, 2010, substituted "at no cost to uninsured or underinsured patients with family incomes below two hundred percent" for "at no cost to patients who are uninsured or underinsured and have family incomes below two hundred percent" in subsection (a). Session Laws 2013-246, s. 5, effective October 1, 2013, in subsection (a), inserted "or in the case of a person at least 18 years of age, from an immunizing pharmacist" and made related changes in the first sentence; and inserted "an immunizing pharmacist" in subsection (c). Legal Periodicals. - For article, "Symposium - Patient-Centered Law and Ethics: When Doctors Become ‘Patients': Advocating a Patient-Centered Approach for Health Care Workers in the Context of Mandatory Influenza Vaccinations and Informed Consent," see 45 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1551 (2010).