Take Action – Pennsylvania DOH Proposal Gives Sweeping Powers to State Health Officials

The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) is trying to expand its power, proposing a major rewrite of 28 Pa. Code Chapter 27, the regulations governing communicable and noncommunicable diseases.

September 9, 2026

Take Action PA - PA DOH Proposal Gives Sweeping Powers to State Health Officials

In 2021, in the midst of unprecedented government overreach in response to the COVID crisis, Pennsylvania voters amended the state Constitution to place new limits and legislative checks on disaster emergency declarations.

Now, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) is trying to expand its power, proposing a major rewrite of 28 Pa. Code Chapter 27, the regulations governing communicable and noncommunicable diseases.

The proposed changes include:

Increasing the reportable disease list from 52 to 125 conditions
Creating a birth defects registry
Adding “prevention, containment or mitigation” to the purposes listed in § 27.60 that justify disease-control measures
Requiring every school in Pennsylvania to give the Department “reasonable and timely access” to a student, unobstructed and in private, for contact tracing or partner services, including during class time (The regulation does not require parental notice.)
Requiring health care providers to report all vaccines given to individuals to the state’s information system, PIERS, unless a patient objects in writing
Broadening the conditions under which the Department can exclude unvaccinated students from school during disease outbreaks

Perhaps most chilling of the proposed changes, is the language in Section 27.60a(b):

“The Department or local health authority may enter an apartment, building, health care facility, school, college or university, or other location as necessary to conduct its investigation under this chapter if the representative presents documentation to establish that they are an authorized representative of the Department or the local health authority…A person may not obstruct or interfere with the Department or local health authority’s investigation under this chapter.”

These changes are proposed and are not yet final. You have an opportunity to speak up by September 21 to let the DOH know you oppose them.

If COVID taught us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t wait until the next emergency to ask how much authority our government has and what protections of our rights exist.

Email your comment by September 21, 2026 to: [email protected] and use this reference in the subject line:

DOH ruling on Communicable & Noncommunicable Diseases. Regulation number: 10-242 IRRC number: 3490.

Tell the DOH that Pennsylvanians don’t want to live in a vaccine surveillance state!