1Requiring certain hospitals to disseminate information relating
2to pertussis education; and imposing a duty on the Department
3of Health.

4The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5hereby enacts as follows:

6Section 1. Short title.

7This act shall be known and may be cited as the Pertussis
8Education Act.

9Section 2. Purpose of act.

10The purpose of this act is to educate mothers of newborn
11infants regarding pertussis disease and the availability of
12vaccine to protect newborn children against pertussis disease.

13Section 3. Findings.

14The General Assembly finds as follows:

15(1) Commonly known as whooping cough, pertussis is a
16highly contagious disease that can be prevented by
17vaccination.

18(2) During 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and

1Prevention (CDC) reported an increase in pertussis in the
2majority of states.

3(3) Pennsylvania ranked 13th in the country in the
4incidence of reported cases of pertussis.

5(4) Pennsylvania's incidence of pertussis is higher than
6the national incidence of cases of pertussis.

7(5) Recommended vaccination for children is at 2, 4 and
86 months of age, followed by vaccination at 15 to 18 months
9of age, with the final vaccination when the child enters
10school.

11(6) Pertussis can cause very serious illness which can
12be potentially life threatening in infants too young to be
13vaccinated.

14(7) More than half of infants who contract pertussis
15must be hospitalized.

16(8) Of those infants who are hospitalized with pertussis
17about 1 in 5 will get pneumonia and 1 in 100 will die.

18(9) By getting immunized during pregnancy, an expectant
19mother can transfer pertussis antibodies to her newborn child
20and likely protect against pertussis early in life before the
21infant is old enough to receive the pertussis vaccine.

22(10) The CDC recommends that providers of prenatal care
23implement a program of pertussis immunization for all
24pregnant women, preferably at 28 through 36 weeks of
25gestation.

26(11) The CDC recommends that families and caregivers of
27newborns be vaccinated at least two weeks prior to coming
28into close contact with a newborn.

29Section 4. Dissemination of pertussis information by hospitals.

30(a) Options.--A hospital that provides health care services

1to a pregnant woman, which services are directly related to her
2pregnancy, shall before discharge after giving birth, provide
3her with educational information on pertussis disease and the
4availability of a vaccine to protect against pertussis.
5Provision in a timely manner of publications prepared by the
6Department of Health pursuant to section 5 shall constitute
7compliance with this subsection.

8(b) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
9construed as requiring:

10(1) A health care provider to provide or pay for
11vaccination against pertussis.

12(2) A pregnant woman to receive vaccination against
13pertussis.

14Section 5. Informational publications by Department of Health.

15The Department of Health shall, on the department's publicly
16accessible Internet website, make available to health care
17providers printable publications that include information on the
18Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations
19that pregnant women, family members and infant caregivers
20receive vaccination against pertussis during the postpartum
21period to protect their newborns from the transmission of
22pertussis.

23Section 6. Effective date.

24This act shall take effect in 60 days.