Clarifying Online Misinformation About State Board of Health’s Jan. 12 Public Meeting> Washington State Board of Health

There was a lot of interest in the virtual public meeting of the Washington State Health Council on January 12. Our staff are busy preparing meeting materials and public comments. Due to the large number of questions we receive from interested persons, we would like to clarify some misinformation that has circulated online regarding two topics on the agenda.

The Washington State Board of Health (Council) is not voting to require a COVID-19 vaccine for school-aged children at its January 12 meeting. The Board will receive a briefing on the progress of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), which is convened to consider COVID-19 for inclusion in Chapter 246-105 WAC, at next week’s meeting (agenda item 8). day). The Council will not take any decision on this agenda item during the meeting. The purpose of TAG is to evaluate a vaccine against the established criteria to develop and provide a recommendation. The recommendation is then presented to the Board at a future regular meeting scheduled for review. The Board, at its discretion, may or may not approve the TAG’s recommendation. Exemption allowances currently listed in the state’s immunization law would be available to families and their children who choose not to be vaccinated against COVID-19. These exemptions include medical, religious, philosophical or personal exemptions. More information is available on the TAG meeting webpage.

The board does not vote to change the isolation or quarantine policies at its January 12 meeting. The board is continuing a November 2021 rules hearing on proposed rule changes to WAC, Section 246-100, Communicable and Certain Other Diseases, as posted in WSR 21-20-127 at the meeting. The Council is proposing to update its rules to reflect current state law to align with the Pregnant Surrogate Home Bill (ESHB) 1551. Agenda item 9, although related to rule making on Chapter 246-100 WAC, only relates to the implementation of ESHB 1551 (Chapter 76, Laws of 2020) and does not include changes to isolation and quarantine policies, nor does it suggest that law enforcement be used to enforce vaccination requirements. More information is available on communicable diseases and some other diseases rule web page.

All information on the January 12 meeting, which includes detailed descriptions of these agenda items, will be available on Friday January 7 on the meeting web page before 5:00 p.m. You can participate in the meeting in several ways:

1. Register online if you have internet and computer access
   1. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DjusY10WTj-EyQyDTdyxsw
2. Connect and listen
   1. +1 (253) 215-8782 (toll free), Webinar ID: 894-7406-4216, Passcode: 957396
3. Watch live on TVW

Send your comments to the Board at [email protected]