HB 218: Health; lower the age from 50 to 18 years old at which hospitals shall offer inpatient vaccinations for the influenza virus prior to discharge

Georgia law currently requires hospitals to offer an inpatient a flu vaccine before discharge only if that patient is 50 or older, and to offer a pneumococcal disease vaccine to inpatients 65 or older. This bill changes just the flu vaccine age threshold, lowering it from 50 to 18. That means any hospital inpatient who is 18 or older would have to be offered a flu shot before being sent home, as long as it is not medically inadvisable and the vaccine is available. The pneumococcal vaccine requirement for patients 65 and older stays the same. Vaccinations still must follow federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance and any state health department rules, and hospitals can still use standing orders approved by medical staff to give the shots without a doctor's individual order each time. The bill repeals any conflicting laws and does not name a delayed effective date.

• Lowers the minimum age for mandatory pre-discharge flu vaccine offers at Georgia hospitals from 50 to 18 years old, expanding who must be offered the shot.
• Leaves the pneumococcal disease vaccine offer requirement unchanged, still applying only to inpatients 65 or older.
• Keeps the existing rule that vaccines must follow CDC recommendations and state health department rules, and be offered only if not contraindicated and if supply is available.
• Keeps hospitals' ability to use medical-staff-approved standing orders to administer these vaccines without a separate doctor's order each time.

Georgia hospitals and their medical staffs, hospital inpatients aged 18 to 49 who were not previously covered by this requirement, and hospital administrators who manage vaccine supply and discharge procedures.

Adults aged 18 to 49 who are hospitalized would now routinely be offered a flu shot before going home, a step previously reserved for patients 50 and older. This could increase flu vaccination rates among younger and middle-aged adults who pass through Georgia hospitals.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 31-7-18(a), changing the inpatient age threshold for mandatory flu vaccine offers from 50 to 18 years old.
• Section 1 leaves intact the requirement that hospitals offer pneumococcal vaccines to inpatients 65 or older before discharge.
• Section 1 keeps the condition that vaccines be offered per CDC recommendations and department rules, unless medically contraindicated, and subject to vaccine availability.
• Section 1 preserves the option for hospitals to administer these vaccines under a standing order approved by the hospital's medical staff.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2025-02-11House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
3. 2025-02-05House Second Readers (House)
4. 2025-02-04House First Readers (House)
5. 2025-02-03House Hopper (House)

• Katie Dempsey (R, HD-13)Primary sponsor
• Lee Hawkins (R, HD-27)
• Sharon Cooper (R, HD-45)
• Karla Drenner (D, HD-85)
• Darlene Taylor (R, HD-173)

• hospital vaccinations
• flu shots
• public health law
• patient discharge requirements