United States HR 5729: Protecting Americans from Seasonal Influenza Act of 2020

Bill Text

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116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 5729
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants for increasing
seasonal influenza vaccination rates, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 30, 2020
Mr. LARSEN of Washington (for himself, Mr. LANGEVIN, and Mr. CARSON of
Indiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants
for increasing seasonal influenza vaccination rates, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Americans 4
from Seasonal Influenza Act of 2020’’. 5
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SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR INCREASING SEASONAL INFLUENZA 1
VACCINATION RATES. 2
The Public Health Service Act is amended by insert-3
ing after section 317T of such Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–22) 4
the following new section: 5
‘‘SEC. 317U. GRANTS FOR INCREASING SEASONAL INFLU-6
ENZA VACCINATION RATES. 7
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 8
the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-9
vention, shall award grants to State health agencies to im-10
plement programs to increase seasonal influenza vaccina-11
tion rates. 12
‘‘(b) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—Subject to the avail-13
ability of appropriations, the Secretary shall award no 14
fewer than five and not more than 20 grants under this 15
section. 16
‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.—A State health agency is eligible 17
to receive a grant under this section only if the average 18
seasonal influenza vaccination rates in the State involved 19
for the last three influenza seasons— 20
‘‘(1) are below the rates recommended by the 21
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part 22
of the Healthy People 2020 initiative; or 23
‘‘(2) otherwise fail to meet any subsequent goal 24
for influenza vaccination established by the Director 25
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 26
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‘‘(d) ELEMENTS.—As a condition on receipt of a 1
grant under this section to implement programs intended 2
to increase seasonal influenza vaccination rates, a State 3
health agency shall agree to include in the program at 4
least one of the following elements: 5
‘‘(1) Increasing outreach to vulnerable popu-6
lations, including pregnant and nursing mothers, the 7
elderly, immunocompromised individuals, and young 8
children. 9
‘‘(2) Increasing outreach to populations most 10
likely to be exposed to influenza, including health 11
professionals and college students. 12
‘‘(3) Encouraging employer-based vaccination 13
programs. 14
‘‘(4) Coordinating between health care providers 15
and insurers to reduce the out-of-pocket costs of 16
vaccinations. 17
‘‘(5) Conducting a public awareness campaign 18
on the burden of seasonal influenza. 19
‘‘(6) Any other element determined by the Di-20
rector of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-21
vention to reduce infections, hospitalizations, or fa-22
talities associated with, or the economic burden of, 23
seasonal influenza. 24
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‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 1
carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro-2
priated $10,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2021 3
through 2023.’’. 4
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