MONTICELLO – The Health and Human Services Committee introduced a Public Health Order resolution, which if passed would require all summer camp operators in the county to comply with a vaccine mandate for pertussis (whooping cough), measles and polio.

These are the same vaccines that are required for students before entering school which is governed by the State Education Department. Health and Human Services Commissioner John Liddle said that the Department of Health has left it to the individual boards of health to decide how they want to enforce the vaccine mandates concerning other facilities, specifically camps. 

The proposed resolution as currently written would impose a $2,000 fine to camp operators for any failure to follow the guidelines set forth. However, the resolution was not passed through the committee and was tabled for further discussion. Liddle said that they can work on updating to the language of the resolution. 

“The camps are in a kind of gap in terms of the authority and in terms of the safety measures that state law has put in place,” Liddle said. “I think it is important to set camps apart from regular places of business because they are congregate settings. In other words, folks are staying together for prolonged periods.”

Epidemiologist Haley Motola talked about the state sanitary code. She said that 67 percent of people living in Sullivan County are vaccinated for polio and 64 percent are vaccinated for MMR (measles). Motola said that the number that the county would need to be at herd immunity is 95 percent. 

“We are very far from 95 percent,” said Motola. “I do not want Sullivan County to become the next ground zero for an infectious disease outbreak. It’s devastating to the community and the health department.”

District 9 Legislator Terry Blosser-Bernardo requested Rule 40 on this resolution to have questions laid over and for the committee to have more discussion on it before it goes to the full board. Committee Chair and District 5 Legislator Cat Scott called to question an overrule of the Rule 40 but it did not receive the required two-thirds vote for overruling. Scott was the only legislature on the committee to vote for an overturn, so Rule 40 stayed and the resolution was tabled. 

“We will work on the language of the Public Health Order,” said Public Health Director Karen Holden. “We are willing to work with camp owners on this.”

The unfinished business on this resolution will take place on Thursday, March 21 in a special meeting of the Health and Human Services Committee at 9:30 a.m. in the Legislative Hearing Room of the Sullivan County Government Center. The meeting will be in between the Executive Committee and full board Legislature meetings. 

There will also be a meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, March 20 at 5 p.m. for camp owners in the county to speak and relay any of their concerns to the legislature. This will be an open discussion, not an official legislature meeting, that will be available to watch online and is open to the public.