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Health Department, medical groups oppose duplicated state reporting requirement in HB 1467
Summary
Supporters urged mandatory state reporting of suspected vaccine adverse events; the Department of Health and Human Services and medical associations testified the bill would duplicate federal VAERS reporting, impose technician costs and staffing needs, and that the appropriation is insufficient.
Supporters of House Bill 14‑67 asked the House Human Services Committee to require reporting of suspected vaccine adverse events to a newly created state system in addition to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
The measure’s proponents said stronger reporting is needed to learn about adverse reactions and rebuild public trust. "For safety and transparency, please vote yes on House Bill 14‑67," testified Lanny Kenner in support.
But Molly Howell, immunization director with the Department of Health and Human Services, and representatives of medical groups urged the committee to reject or amend the bill. Howell said the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 already requires providers to report to VAERS and warned that duplicate state reporting would burden providers and could reduce reporting quality. "Duplicate reporting places a burden on health care providers that may lead to a fatigue in reporting to one or both systems, making it difficult for VAERS to identify potential and important vaccine safety signals," Howell told the committee.
Howell also described fiscal and technical concerns. She said the federal VAERS system requires manual data entry and cannot accept bulk uploads from a new state database; consequently, providers would have to enter the same data twice. The Department obtained a development estimate from North Dakota Information Technology (NDIT) of $110,585 to build the state system and $59,005.85 annually for maintenance, Howell said. She added the bill’s appropriation of $100,000 is inadequate and the department is requesting an FTE and supporting costs for development, provider education and ongoing analysis.
The North Dakota Medical Association told the committee it opposes the bill because it requires providers to enter the same information twice. "Healthcare providers are under a lot of stress and to have duplicate reporting doesn't really make sense," said Courtney Coble, executive director of the association.
Committee members asked whether the department could regularly download state‑level VAERS data instead of building a separate system. Howell said the department can download North Dakota‑specific VAERS data and post it on the department website, but that would still require staff time to analyze and publish the information.
No formal action or vote on the bill was recorded at the hearing; the committee closed the public hearing and moved on to the next bill.
Ending: The hearing record shows competing priorities: supporters seeking more state tracking of vaccine adverse events and state and medical officials cautioning that duplicative reporting would strain providers and the department. The committee will weigh those fiscal and operational concerns when it takes the bill up for committee action.
