FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: January 15, 2026
Time Requested: 05:06 PM |
| Agency: |
Health, WV Department of |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 2086 |
Introduced |
SB415 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
Health |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
0418 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH-OFFICE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND PREVENTION S
Sources of Revenue:
General Fund
Legislation creates:
Increases Existing Expenses
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
The purpose of this bill is to require medical professionals to report to the Bureau for Public Health all injuries and side effects from vaccines, require the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health to produce an annual report for the Legislature and the public, and to require medical professionals to receive periodic training relating to side effects from vaccines.
The bill also requires the Bureau for Public Health to make a mechanism available for reporting adverse impact from vaccines. Lastly, the bill requires that medical professionals that deliver vaccines be required to receive educational materials from the Bureau for Public Health about the negative side effects from vaccines and to be formally trained every five years.
The Department estimates the fiscal impact of this legislation to be $97,681.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2026
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2027
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
0 |
97,681 |
96,044 |
| Personal Services |
0 |
96,044 |
96,044 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
1,637 |
0 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
The proposed bill will require funding to support salary and fringe benefits for (1) FTE classified as an Epidemiologist I $96,044 (market salary $71,144 + $24,900 fringe 35%) in order to serve as a vaccine injury epidemiologist. This FTE would be responsible for working directly with the West Virginia Poison Center and accessing data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) in order to produce an annual report for the legislature. Current expense needed will total $1,637 ($1,010 for laptop, $181 warranty, $158 docking station, $288 for 2 monitors at $144 each).
Memorandum
This proposed bill conflicts with West Virginia Code, Chapter 18B, Article 11B which outlines responsibilities for the West Virginia Poison Center. Center responsibilities include surveillance of human exposures. This includes those related to chemicals, drugs, biologicals and weapons of mass destruction. The Poison Center is the agency currently responsible for monitoring injuries and side effects from vaccines.
Additionally since 1990, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has been operational and serves as a national early warning system to detect possible safety problems in the United States. VAERS accepts and analyzes reports of adverse events and side effects after a person has been vaccinated. Anyone can report an adverse event to VAERS. Healthcare professionals are required to report certain adverse events. The primary objective of VAERS includes: Detect new, unusual, or rare vaccine adverse events; monitor increases in known adverse events; identify potential patient risk factors for particular types of adverse events, assess the safety of newly licensed vaccines, determine and address possible reporting clusters (e.g., suspected localized [temporally or geographically] or product-/batch-/lot-specific adverse event reporting), recognize persistent safe-use problems and administration errors, and provide a national safety monitoring system that extends to the entire general population for response to public health emergencies, such as a large-scale pandemic influenza vaccination program.
The West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services, Division of Immunization Services provides annual training(s) to providers related to reporting of vaccine adverse events to the Poison Center and VAERS.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Arvin Singh, Secretary, EdD, MBA, MPH, MS, FACHE
Email Address: OSAfiscalnotes@wv.gov