The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions reported the Kaye Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act (S.2398), a bipartisan measure to reauthorize federal work on tick-borne and other vector-borne diseases, including funding for centers of excellence, state and local grants, and implementation of the Department of Health and Human Services' national strategy.

Senator Susan Collins, sponsor of the reauthorization, said the legislation honors former Senator Kay Hagan, who died in 2019 from complications of a tick-borne disease (Powassan virus). Collins described the bill's three-part approach: implementing HHS's national strategy to combat vector-borne disease, reauthorizing CDC centers of excellence, and reauthorizing grants to state and local health departments to strengthen public health infrastructure.

Supporters cited rising incidence rates. Senator Collins said Maine recorded 3,218 Lyme disease cases last year, more than double the number reported five years earlier, and highlighted a clinical trial for a Lyme disease vaccine now underway at a Maine health research institute. The committee adopted the manager's substitute and reported the bill favorably by unanimous consent; the sponsors entered statements of support into the record.

The reauthorization seeks to sustain federal capacity for surveillance, research, prevention and rapid response to outbreaks of tick-borne diseases, and sponsors said it will help development and deployment of vaccines and regional response capabilities.