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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6839 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6839
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants
for removing transportation barriers to accessing eligible vaccines for
individuals from low-income communities, minority communities, or other
communities in which transportation poses a barrier to health care
access, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 18, 2025
Ms. Barragan (for herself, Mr. Carson, Mr. Cohen, Mrs. Dingell, Mr.
Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Goldman of New York, Ms. Norton, Mr. Soto, Mr.
Tonko, and Mr. Veasey) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants
for removing transportation barriers to accessing eligible vaccines for
individuals from low-income communities, minority communities, or other
communities in which transportation poses a barrier to health care
access, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Vaccine Transportation Access Act''.
SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR VACCINE ACCESS AND MOBILITY.
(a) General Authority.--
(1) Awards.--The Secretary shall award grants to qualified
community organizations to assist in financing projects to
remove transportation barriers to accessing eligible vaccines
for individuals from low-income communities, minority
communities, or other communities in which transportation poses
a barrier to health care access.
(2) Transfer of duties.--The Secretary shall--
(A) enter into agreements with State health
agencies for purposes of carrying out the duties
assigned to the Secretary under this section; and
(B) transfer to such agencies for such purposes
funds appropriated to carry out this section.
(b) Application.--A qualified community organization seeking a
grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary an application
that contains--
(1) a description of the project to be funded through the
grant;
(2) an identification of all project partners and their
specific role in the proposed project, including private for-
profit and nonprofit entities engaged in the coordination of
transportation services for the project; and
(3) specific performance measures the qualified community
organization will use to reduce cancellations or missed
appointments.
(c) Period of Performance.--Each grant awarded under subsection (a)
shall be for a period of performance of not less than 6 months.
(d) Use of Funds.--Each grant awarded under subsection (a)--
(1) shall be used to develop, expand, and enhance access to
transportation to and from sites for receipt of an eligible
vaccine by individuals from low-income communities, minority
communities, or other communities in which transportation poses
a barrier to health care access; and
(2) may be used to--
(A) provide prescheduled or on-demand
transportation to and from a site for administration of
an eligible vaccine; or
(B) provide first and last mile transportation
services for appointments for administration of such a
vaccine.
(e) Reporting.--
(1) Grant recipients.--As a condition on receipt of a grant
under this section, a grantee shall agree to submit to the
Secretary, not later than 6 months after the completion of the
period of performance of the grant, a report containing such
information as the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate
performance under the grant.
(2) Annual report to congress.--Not later than one year
after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually
thereafter during the term of the grant program under this
section, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy
and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a
report containing a summary of the information received by the
Secretary during the preceding year under paragraph (1).
(f) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
(1) Eligible vaccine.--The term ``eligible vaccine'' means
any immunization that--
(A) had in effect a recommendation from the
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with respect
to the individual involved as of October 25, 2024,
including such an immunization as updated or changed
after that date under a supplement to a biologics
license application approved by the Food and Drug
Administration; or
(B) is recommended under evidenced-based, clinical
care guidelines published by one or more United States
professional medical societies.
(2) First and last mile.--The term ``first and last mile''
means, with respect to transportation services and an
individual's trip to and from a vaccine appointment--
(A) transportation--
(i) between the individual's point of trip
origin and a source of public transit; and
(ii) between a source of public transit and
the individual's destination; or
(B) where no source of public transit is available,
transportation between the individual's point of trip
origin and the individual's destination.
(3) Qualified community organization.--The term ``qualified
community organization'' means an organization that--
(A) is a nonprofit organization; and
(B) has experience in--
(i) managing Federal grants; and
(ii) providing services to low-income or
minority communities or communities that
disproportionately experience disparities in
health status and health care access.
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Health and Human Services.
(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.
SEC. 3. FEDERAL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PERCENTAGE.
Section 1905(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d(b)) is
amended by adding at the end the following new sentence:
``Notwithstanding the first sentence of this subsection, the Federal
medical assistance percentage shall be 100 per centum with respect to
amounts expended for nonemergency transportation benefits provided to
individuals eligible for medical assistance under this subchapter that
are attributable to transportation costs incurred on or after the date
of the enactment of this sentence related to providing eligible
vaccines (as defined in section 2(f) of the Vaccine Transportation
Access Act) to such individuals under the State plan.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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