North Carolina lawmakers advance bill requiring parental approval of youths’ COVID-19 vaccines

North Carolina lawmakers advanced a bill on Wednesday that includes a requirement for youth to receive parental permission before getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Associated Press reported that the state’s Senate Health Care Committee approved a bill that includes a parent or guardian permission requirement for youth inoculation with vaccines that have been approved for emergency use. The bill also seeks to expand the types of medicines that immunizing pharmacists are allowed to distribute.

The Pfizer vaccine is currently the only COVID-19 shot that is authorized for children ages 12 to 17. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services writes on its website that people under the age of 18 can choose to get a COVID-19 vaccine “if they show the decisional capacity to do so.”

“Decisional capacity is a person’s ability to understand their health and health care needs and options, and to make decisions about them,” the department writes.

The bill will now go to another Senate committee for approval, according to the AP.

The conversation regarding youth and COVID-19 mitigation measures has ramped up in recent weeks, as parents and administrators look towards the beginning of the school year in the fall.

As of Monday, six states said they will require students in kindergarten through twelfth grade to wear face coverings in school, regardless of vaccination status: Connecticut, Hawaii, New Mexico, New York, Virginia and Washington.