SENATE HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND SENIOR CITIZENS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3699

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 6, 2021

      The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 3699.

      This bill establishes the “COVID-19 Vaccinating, Reaching, and Contacting Everyone Act.”

      Under the bill, the Department of Health (department) is to coordinate with federally qualified health centers, hospitals, nonprofit organizations, and schools of medicine and nursing to establish mobile coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination centers inside motorbuses, recreational vehicles, and other vehicles deemed appropriate by the department. 

      The bill provides that a mobile COVID-19 vaccination center may register patients for vaccinations and vaccinate patients within the mobile center.  A mobile COVID-19 vaccination center is to distribute COVID-19 vaccine informational pamphlets prepared by the department and collect data from patients on a voluntary basis, which may include the age, race, sex, and occupation of patients.  A mobile COVID-19 vaccination center is to report collected data to the Department of Health on a quarterly basis.

      Under the bill, the department is to issue and prioritize grants from available federal funds to a mobile COVID-19 vaccination center if the mobile center:

      (1) operates in a geographic location where there are among the population therein low rates of COVID-19 vaccination, high levels of poverty, and low rates of health insurance coverage, as determined by the department; and

      (2) employs individuals who reside within the geographic location described in paragraph (1) who:  provide COVID-19 health tips, inform others of mobile COVID-19 vaccination centers, have responsibilities which include, but are not limited to, registering and checking in persons for vaccines, and speak a language that is spoken by more than 10 percent of the population in that geographic location.