The following statement can be attributed to Sarah Kincaid, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Ohio Children’s Hospital Association:

The members of the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association (Akron Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Dayton Children’s, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, ProMedica Russell J. Ebeid Children’s Hospital and UH/Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital) fully support House Bill 559 – the Immunization Process Improvement Bill.

House Bill 559 provides a mechanism to capture accurate, verified data on immunization rates and to share that data at a school level to allow parents to make informed decisions for their immunocompromised children when enrolling them in school.

The legislation strikes the right balance between ensuring ALL kids are protected without infringing upon parental rights and will allow Ohio to better respond when an outbreak of disease occurs.

Additionally, standardizing the opt-out process for all schools statewide will ensure there is one form for state licensed childcare centers, Kindergarten, school entry and grades 7 and 12. This will streamline the process so that parents, schools and pediatricians will have a standardized form, rather than different types of documentation used throughout the state.

We appreciate the thoughtful approach taken by co-sponsors Anne Gonzales (R-Westerville) and Al Landis (R-Dover) to make these two important changes to Ohio’s current immunization laws on behalf of Ohio’s children and families.

Our hospitals provide the highest quality of care to all Ohio children, regardless of the family’s ability to pay. We take great pride in transforming lives by ensuring Ohio’s most precious asset – our children – have access to the safest, most innovative care in the world, right here in Ohio. We strongly support any measure that helps encourage informed decision-making by families, including aggregate reporting of data and standardization of documentation.

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Media contact: Angela Krile: 740-974-3948, angela@krilecommunications.com, T: @angkrile