NEVADA: Tell your lawmakers no vaccine authority for dentists; no dental exam requirements to attend school

Our Stand: At-A-Glance

• AB147 would allow dentists and dental hygienists to administer vaccines despite not having training on how to give them, knowledge and experience of contraindications, what to advise patients and parents to watch for post-vaccination, and how to report adverse reactions to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. And dentists typically do not have after-hours, on-call availability in the event of a problem.
• The bill would also allow patients to give verbal consent rather than the gold standard of written consent. This opens the door for miscommunication or misunderstandings and also removes the dual protection of a written record in legal disputes.
• AB147 makes mention of requiring dental screenings for children as a condition of admittance to school or day care. While the bill does not force this requirement now, it sets up the framework for a future mandate.
• It’s bad public policy to deny an education to a child because of their medical status, including their dental status. 
• You can help improve the bill by contacting your lawmaker and asking them to make these changes:
  • Remove all vaccine administration authority for dental professionals (delete sections 15-19 of the bill).
  • Delete references to verbal consent and instead require the gold standard of written consent (section 10(d) of the bill).
  • Remove all references to requiring dental screenings for school and day care admittance (sections 26-28).