Bill Text: VA HB665 | 2024 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Immunizations; authority of the Commissioner of Health, religious tenets or practices, exception.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-02-13 - Left in Health and Human Services [HB665 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB665-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §32.1-48 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§32.1-48. Powers of Commissioner in epidemic.
A. Nothing in this article shall preclude the Commissioner
from requiring immediate immunization of all persons in case of an epidemic of
any disease of public health importance for which a vaccine exists other than (i) a person to whose health
the administration of a vaccine would be detrimental as certified in writing by
a physician licensed to practice medicine in this the Commonwealth or
(ii) a person, including a parent or guardian on behalf of a child, who objects
on the grounds that the administration of a
vaccine conflicts with his religious tenets or practices.
B. In addition, the State Health
Commissioner shall hold the powers conferred pursuant to Article 3.02 (§
32.1-48.05 et seq.) of this chapter
to issue orders of quarantine or prepare orders of isolation for a communicable
disease of public health threat.
