STAND. COM. REP. 2956

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2798

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2798, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PRACTICE OF PHARMACY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to add the intranasal delivery of drugs and the oral and intranasal delivery of vaccines to the scope of practice of pharmacists.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Board of Pharmacy. Testimony in opposition was received from Hawaii Medical Association and MedImmune, Inc.

Your Committee finds that a pharmacist who is appropriately trained should be able to administer intranasal drugs and vaccines. Pharmacies are ideally suited to provide preventative immunization health care services, thus addressing the critical public health issue of inadequate immunizations.

This measure, as written, impedes community access to quality vaccines by changing the effective date of the law to July 2006, and also places an undue burden on vaccine administrators by requiring that intranasal vaccines be administered away from the general public, which seems unnecessary and contradictory to the goal of widespread vaccination.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by deleting its contents and replacing it with the contents of S.B. No. 3079 that does not reference the general public and is effective upon approval.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2798, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2798, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair