NYC Health Department offers bill allowing pharmacists to give flu and pneumonia shots

New York City is up to its ears in flu cases. This state of things worries the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that urges to pass a bill allowing pharmacists to give flu and pneumonia shots.

Photo: NYC Health Department offers bill allowing pharmacists to give flu and pneumonia shots

This bill on the one hand will provide at least 50,000 older New York City residents with shots, but on the other hand it will increase the risk of side effects, as it’s just impossible to track individual cases.

According to officials, more than 2,000 New Yorkers die from flu and pneumonia daily. These deaths are actually preventable. But the problem is the access to vaccines. Some 20 percent of the current flu vaccine supply is unused.

The bill will allow pharmacists to vaccinate people 18 years and older after some routine procedures.

The sponsors of the bill are Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Democrat of Scarsdale, and State Senators Charles J. Fuschillo Jr., Republican of Long Island, and Frank Padavan, Republican of Queens.

It’s actively supported by the American Pharmacists Association, the New York Academy of Medicine, the American Lung Association’s state and city chapters, the New York State Nurses Association, the Nurse Practitioner Association of New York State, the Joint Public Affairs Committee for Older Adults and the city chapter of the New York Statewide Senior Action Council.