Lab, immunizations top health board’s priorities

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The Oklahoma Board of Health says a new public health laboratory to replace an aging lab built more than 40 years ago and a vaccine program to assure that all Oklahomans have access to immunization are its top funding priorities for 2015.

Members of the board said Tuesday they will emphasize the programs to state lawmakers when the Oklahoma Legislature convenes in February.

Julie Cox-Kain, deputy secretary of health and human services for the Department of Health, says total cost of the proposed laboratory is about $49 million and that the agency will seek an appropriation of $5.8 million for the first payment on a 10-year bond issue that would finance the project.

The agency will seek $2.7 million to purchase and distribute vaccines and administer the vaccine program.