New York Health Officials Could Have New Power in Flu Pandemic

Health officials in New York could be getting new powers to help them react to the possibility of a pandemic flu, just as the United Nations and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff started predicting that the avian flu virus could reach North America by the fall.

The Associated Press’ Candice Choi is reporting that New York state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello announced the changes late last week at a public hearing. The legislation would give officials the authority to train civilians to deliver immunizations and other medical care.

Choi says additional legislation would “authorize the health commissioner to redeploy medical equipment, and require electronic reporting of disease and the submission clinical specimens to the state Health Department.”

“There’s a level of authority that's already available in the case of a public health emergency, but this would expand (the state’s) authority,” Rob Kenny, a spokesperson for the Health Department, told Choi.

Earlier in the week, DHS Chief Chertoff said a deadly strain of bird flu “could appear in the United States in the next few months as wild birds migrate from infected nations,” Choi says. “Health authorities fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form that spreads from person-to-person, sparking a pandemic.”

The H5N1 strain has killed at least 95 people since 2003, mostly in Asia, according to the World Health Organization.