California child advocate back at state capitol to champion new allergy safety bill

Key takeaways:

• AB 2714 aims to make epinephrine delivery safer and easier for schools.
• Alternate delivery methods hope to reduce hesitancy in use.

Zacky Muñoz is once again in front of the California state capitol with his third piece of legislation advocating to advance the safety of school-aged children with critical allergies.

AB 2714, or Zacky’s Food Allergy Safety Treatments (FAST) Act, will provide schools with the option to have the latest FDA-approved epinephrine delivery methods accessible to students with severe allergic reactions.

“I, along with my family, are so excited and fortunate to help change the landscape for kids with food allergies,” Muñoz, a sixth grader from Los Angeles, told Healio. “There is so much to be done. This road is personal for me.”

Muñoz was just 6 years old when he suffered two anaphylactic shocks in his first-grade school year, which prompted concerns about the ready access of epinephrine to students in life-threatening situations such as these.

The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Greg Wallis (R-Palm Springs) and co-authored by Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera), Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) and Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank).

Healio spoke with Zacky’s mother, Priscilla Hernandez, about the reasons why Zacky is once again at the state capitol emphasizing the need for schools to provide alternate epinephrine delivery methods.

Priscilla Hernandez

“Our most vulnerable population, our youth, should have access to the resources that will keep them healthy and safe,” Hernandez told Healio. “Epinephrine is the only and first line of defense against anaphylaxis. Therefore, equipping our caregivers (school nurses and trained school staff) with what feels most comfortable for them and those they care for is important.”

The first bill that Muñoz campaigned for was Zacky’s Law, which provided information about food allergies through the California Food Allergy Resource Guide and was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022. The second, approved in 2023, was the Muñoz Safe Act, which requires school staff to go through special training in order to be able to administer epinephrine in case of an allergic emergency.

Hernandez explained that many children and even adults experience a level of fear and discomfort when faced with a traditional epinephrine autoinjector such as EpiPen (Mylan/Viatris).

“Often times, the thought of having to inject a needle into a young person provides a level of anxiety and hesitation, although it is shown that more prompt responses lead to more successful outcomes,” she said. “The hope is that as needle-free options become available, delays of use will become a thing of the past.”

Some of the options that the bill mentions include epinephrine nasal sprays, dissolving mouth strips and inhalers.

“The utilization of needle-free delivery systems provides options in life-threatening situations and introduces solutions for children and adults with trypanophobia (fear of needles),” Hernandez said.

She further explained that research has found that people hesitate or delay treatment for a condition that requires immediate action due to needle phobias and that often, death from anaphylaxis occurs when there is a delay before epinephrine is administered. The consensus among most physicians also shows that needle-free epinephrine solutions would improve use.

The bill includes an education portion so that educators and other school employees will receive training on epinephrine administration.

“Hesitancy should not be a barrier to timely epinephrine administration,” Hernandez explained. “As a parent, I understand firsthand that hesitancy to use a certain delivery system can result in delay of use, not the medicine itself. The goal of this bill is to provide schools options of what is most comfortable for them to use when it is needed, without delay. This will save lives.”

“Food allergies are part of our life but should not determine our ability to thrive and contribute to this world,” Muñoz said. “By addressing the policies in place that impact us, we ‘open the doors’ to not only the latest innovations and resources but, more importantly, we open the door to endless other possibilities.”

AB 2714 is currently in the appropriations committee.

References:

• AB-2714 Pupil health: epinephrine delivery systems.
• https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2714. Published Feb. 14, 2024. Accessed April 18, 2024.
• McLenon J, et al. J Adv Nurs. 2018;doi:10.1111/jan.13818