Florida Senate - 2022                                    SB 1234
       
       
        
       By Senator Pizzo
       
       
       
       
       
       38-01181-22                                           20221234__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to vaccinations during public health
    3         emergencies; amending s. 381.00315, F.S.; authorizing
    4         the State Health Officer to order the vaccination of
    5         individuals upon declaration of a public health
    6         emergency under certain circumstances; revising a
    7         requirement that the Department of Health adopt
    8         certain rules; providing an effective date.
    9          
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subsection (2) and paragraph
   13  (c) of subsection (5) of section 381.00315, Florida Statutes,
   14  are amended to read:
   15         381.00315 Public health advisories; public health
   16  emergencies; isolation and quarantines.—The State Health Officer
   17  is responsible for declaring public health emergencies, issuing
   18  public health advisories, and ordering isolation or quarantines.
   19         (2)
   20         (d) The State Health Officer, upon declaration of a public
   21  health emergency, may take actions that are necessary to protect
   22  the public health. Such actions include, but are not limited to:
   23         1. Directing manufacturers of prescription drugs or over
   24  the-counter drugs who are permitted under chapter 499 and
   25  wholesalers of prescription drugs located in this state who are
   26  permitted under chapter 499 to give priority to the shipping of
   27  specified drugs to pharmacies and health care providers within
   28  geographic areas identified by the State Health Officer. The
   29  State Health Officer must identify the drugs to be shipped.
   30  Manufacturers and wholesalers located in the state must respond
   31  to the State Health Officer’s priority shipping directive before
   32  shipping the specified drugs.
   33         2. Notwithstanding chapters 465 and 499 and rules adopted
   34  thereunder, directing pharmacists employed by the department to
   35  compound bulk prescription drugs and provide these bulk
   36  prescription drugs to physicians and nurses of county health
   37  departments or any qualified person authorized by the State
   38  Health Officer for administration to persons as part of a
   39  prophylactic or treatment regimen.
   40         3. Notwithstanding s. 456.036, temporarily reactivating the
   41  inactive license of the following health care practitioners,
   42  when such practitioners are needed to respond to the public
   43  health emergency: physicians licensed under chapter 458 or
   44  chapter 459; physician assistants licensed under chapter 458 or
   45  chapter 459; licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and
   46  advanced practice registered nurses licensed under part I of
   47  chapter 464; respiratory therapists licensed under part V of
   48  chapter 468; and emergency medical technicians and paramedics
   49  certified under part III of chapter 401. Only those health care
   50  practitioners specified in this paragraph who possess an
   51  unencumbered inactive license and who request that such license
   52  be reactivated are eligible for reactivation. An inactive
   53  license that is reactivated under this paragraph shall return to
   54  inactive status when the public health emergency ends or before
   55  the end of the public health emergency if the State Health
   56  Officer determines that the health care practitioner is no
   57  longer needed to provide services during the public health
   58  emergency. Such licenses may only be reactivated for a period
   59  not to exceed 90 days without meeting the requirements of s.
   60  456.036 or chapter 401, as applicable.
   61         4. Ordering an individual to be examined, tested,
   62  vaccinated, treated, isolated, or quarantined for communicable
   63  diseases that have significant morbidity or mortality and
   64  present a severe danger to public health. Individuals who are
   65  unable or unwilling to be examined, tested, vaccinated, or
   66  treated for reasons of health, religion, or conscience may be
   67  subjected to isolation or quarantine.
   68         a. Examination, testing, vaccination, or treatment may be
   69  performed by any qualified person authorized by the State Health
   70  Officer.
   71         b. If the individual poses a danger to the public health,
   72  the State Health Officer may subject the individual to isolation
   73  or quarantine. If there is no practical method to isolate or
   74  quarantine the individual, the State Health Officer may use any
   75  means necessary to vaccinate or treat the individual.
   76         c. Any order of the State Health Officer given to
   77  effectuate this paragraph is immediately enforceable by a law
   78  enforcement officer under s. 381.0012.
   79         (5) The department shall adopt rules to specify the
   80  conditions and procedures for imposing and releasing an
   81  isolation or a quarantine. The rules must include provisions
   82  related to:
   83         (c) The tests, vaccination, or treatment for communicable
   84  disease required before employment or admission to the premises
   85  or to comply with an isolation or a quarantine.
   86         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.