Senate Introduces Bill to Permanently Authorize Student Vaccinators
Print this Article | Send to Colleague
Senate Introduces Bill to Permanently Authorize Student Vaccinators
Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Susan Collins (R-ME) recently introduced the Student Assisted Vaccination Effort (SAVE) Act. This bipartisan legislation makes permanent the current but temporary provisions allowing optometry and other health profession students to participate as vaccinators in national vaccination efforts during federal public health emergencies.
ASCO is a member organization of Students Assist America (SAA), an interprofessional initiative of 12 associations that successfully advocated for the need to find ways for health profession students to join the emergency healthcare workforce during COVID. SAA supported the amendment to the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act COVID-19 Declaration that ultimately permitted more than one million health professions students to administer COVID-19 vaccines.
Passage of the SAVE Act would bring about permanent recognition of optometry students and other health profession students as a permanent part of future federal responses.
The Government Relations Group within the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions is working on efforts to support this bill’s passage.
