NY lawmaker introduces legislation requiring COVID immunization for students

NEW YORK - New York State Sen. Brady Holyman introduced legislation that would add the coronavirus vaccine to the list of required immunizations for all students.

If passed into law, students who are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine would have thirty days after it receives full approval by the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to receive the vaccine.

"New York law currently requires students to receive immunizations against 12 different illnesses," said Holyman. "It’s a no-brainer to add COVID-19 to that list."

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The number of children sick with COVID-19 was at a record high across the country. 

Earlier this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics said the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus had created "a new and pressing risk" to children amid its ongoing spread, underscoring the need for vaccines to be authorized for this age group. 

"We must do everything we can to make sure there never is a pediatric ICU bed shortage in New York State, and that means requiring immunization against COVID-19 for school children once we know they are safe and effective," said Holyman.

Under current New York State law, children attending both public and private schools in the state are required to receive vaccinations against polio, mumps, measles, diphtheria, rubella, varicella, Haemophilus influenza type b, pertussis, tetanus, pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, and hepatitis b.

Only the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for those 12 and up. The FDA is currently considering whether to extend the use of the Moderna vaccine to the same age group.

Meanwhile, Pfizer is testing its two-dose vaccine in up to 4,500 children in the United States and Europe. The company has previously said it expects data on children ages 5 to 11 from its ongoing pediatric trials to be available in September and the younger age group shortly after.

Moderna has said it expects to have enough data to apply for FDA authorization in younger kids by late this year or early 2022.