Introduction
In this blog post, we will be taking a look at two proposed laws from the New York Legislature that both are related to Covid-19 in one way or another. The first of these two laws that will be covered is A03192 and the second is A03870.
A03192 is about teen vaccination law, specifically about allowing Teens to decide for themselves if they should be vaccinated, regardless of what their parents say.
A03870 is about awarding healthcare workers, who worked during the Covid-19 State of Emergency.
In short this will be a double feature of two short laws that both relate to the medical sector in some way, if you are only interested in one of the laws, feel free to scroll down to that laws section.
A03192 – Teen Vaccination Law
This first law, NY A03192, would allow for a minor, who is at least 14, to get vaccinated, without consent of their parents, as long as they themselves consent.
As of 5/23/2021, the law is currently in committee since and has been since 1/22/2021. It is sponsored by 10 people, all of whom are Democrats. They are as follows; Patricia Fahy (D)*, Catalina Cruz (D), Inez Dickens (D), Jeffrey Dinowitz (D), Harvey Epstein (D), Deborah Glick (D), Andrew Hevesi (D), William Magnarelli (D), Jo Anne Simon (D), Monica Wallace (D),
Before the vaccination can be given the healthcare practitioner must explain the ramifications of the vaccination and ensure that the minor fully understand what getting vaccinated means. Afterwards, if the minor agrees, which the bill refers to as, “informed consent” then they can be vaccinated regardless of if their parents consent or not.
In short, this law would allow teens with anti-vax parents to get vaccinated regardless of their parents wishes. Hence, it puts the choice of whether to vaccinate or not in the hands of the teenager rather than their parents. This law naturally relates to Covid-19 as the vaccine would be included in the scope of this law, meaning teenagers who want the vaccine but have been unable to get it due to their parents refusal, can now consent and get the vaccine.
A03870 – Covid-19 Healthcare Worker Student Loan Forgiveness Law
This law NY A03870 would provide large rewards for the purpose of paying off student loan debt, to healthcare workers that worked during the Covid-19 State of Emergency.
As of 5/23/2021, the bill is still in committee and has been since 1/28/2021. The bill only has one sponsor, Patrick Burke (D)*,
The quickest way to explain what this bill does is by stating that it simply gives rewards to qualifying healthcare workers. To get into more complex terms and have a much more clear understanding of who exactly qualifies, we need to first define who the law considers a healthcare worker.
According to the law, a healthcare worker is “any person working as a nurse, registered professional nurse, licensed practical nurse, nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, certified nurse assistant, medical assistant, physician assistant, specialist assistant, pathologists’ assistant, medical technician, respiratory therapy technicians, medical technologist, diagnostic medical sonographer, emergency medical technician, paramedic, phlebotomist, clinical support aid, or immediate treatment assistant”. This is quite a broad set of categories, but, there is more that is required to get an award then just being one of the above.
Specifically, one must also have practiced at a hospital, general practitioner office, nursing home or any other healthcare practice/facility and both this and the above must have been during the Covid-19 State of Emergency (which is defined as the emergency that was declared by executive order 202 that began on March 7th 2020).
If an individual fulfills all of the above requirements then they can be awarded up to $5000 per year, for four years, if they have a bachelor’s degree, but this amount cannot exceed their student debt (both private and government). Alternatively, if one does not have a bachelor’s degree then they instead get $2500 per year, for four years, and once again this amount cannot exceed their student debt (both private and government).
To reiterate, this bill would allow for medical workers who fought on the frontlines against Covid-19, many of whom died doing so, to be rewarded for their service in helping to keep this nation safe.
Conclusion/Opinion Segment
In short, both of these bills provide support in the medical field in some way. The first bill would allow for teenagers to decide for themselves if they should vaccinate or not. In my opinion, this is a great idea and allows for them to choose for themselves if they wish to vaccinate rather then being forced to not vaccinate by their parents. Giving people more choice will usually be helpful and here is no exception. As for the second bill that provides awards to Healthcare workers, this is also a great idea, they risked their lives to help people and could very well have gotten sick and/or even died themselves, in fact, many did die. They deserve some sort of reward for their hard work and service and paying off some of their student loan debt is a good step in that direction.