SACRAMENTO – Members of the legislative Vaccine Work Group have been advocating for cohesive and comprehensive, evidenced-based policies in the 2022-23 Budget to strengthen the state’s ability to respond to public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. The inclusion of a historic $375 million investment in California’s public health infrastructure and over $2 billion to fight COVID and ensure equitable access to testing and vaccines positions California to continue moving forward to protect Californians.

Dr. Richard Pan, state senator and pediatrician said, “COVID-19 proved public health saves lives, and I am proud to have advocated for this year’s historic state funding for public health. California’s state budget will include $375 million to strengthen the public health workforce and infrastructure for both state and local public health, with an ongoing $300 million annually for public health. These investments will keep California healthier and safer from COVID, future pandemics and other health threats. I am grateful to Senate President pro Tem Atkins, Assembly Speaker Rendon, Governor Newsom and my colleagues who crafted this budget.”

SACRAMENTO – Dr. Richard Pan, state senator representing the Sacramento region and Chair of the Senate Health Committee made the following statement regarding the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizations overruling 50-years of legal precedence and federal constitutional protections to abortion health care:

“This backward decision by the Supreme Court will endanger the health and even lives of millions of American women founded on willful ignorance of the history, legal precedence and medical science of abortion care.  I am deeply concerned we have begun a new and unjust era in the United States which robs pregnant people of their dignity, control over their own bodies and the right to access abortion health care. Additionally, reactionary justices have signaled a desire to further overturn other legal precedence to remove additional rights from Americans to advance their political ideologies over our freedom and well-being.

SACRAMENTO – Dr. Richard Pan, state senator representing the Sacramento region and Chair of the Senate Health Committee made the following statement regarding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) emergency authorization of both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines for kids 6 months of age or older and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendation that kids 6 months of age or older get vaccinated against COVID-19: