🖨️ Print post
Help us stop S. 75 and its companion bill A. 279, which would require health care providers who administer vaccines to a person 19 years or older to report all such immunizations to a vaccine tracking system.
Current law makes reporting voluntary and only after consent from the person receiving the vaccine. These bills would change this law and violate your right to medical privacy.
Vaccine tracking systems and other public health databases are being used to harass those who have chosen to delay or decline vaccines. They are also used for interventions including home visits and reminder/recall systems.
No one should be included in a government tracking system without their consent.
TAKE ACTION
Contact both your New York State Senator and New York State Assembly Member and ask them to OPPOSE S. 75 / A279. You can look up who represents you at:
Find your New State Senator: https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator
Find your New York Assembly Member: https://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/
Calls are more effective than emails, and only take a few minutes.
Sample script:
“Hi, my name is ____ and I am a constituent. I am calling to ask Senator (or Assembly Member) ____ to OPPOSE S. 75 / A. 279, which would require New York healthcare providers to provide private information regarding immunization to either the New York State Department of Health or the New York City immunization registry.
These bills violate the normal principles of consent for sharing an individual’s medical information and would deny the patient the right to opt out of the system.
Adults are fully capable of keeping their own vaccine records and should be given the choice whether they wish their vaccination history to be tracked by the government.
I urge Senator/ Representative _____ to oppose S. 75/ A. 279.”
Talking Points:
Keep your call or email short! Pick the 2 or 3 talking points that are most important to you, and be sure to explain why this issue matters to you personally.
- Immunization information systems and vaccine tracking systems are being used for a range of interventions, including home visits, reminder and recall systems, which can be harassing for people who do not want these contacts. This should be an opt-in system, as it is currently, so that people can choose whether or not to be part of it.
- HIPAA provides no privacy protection and so-called “opt-outs” do not remove private information. The only way to protect privacy in a vaccine registry/information system/tracking system is to require prior consent so those who do want to participate can prevent their personal information from being put into the database. “Confidentiality” is not the same as protecting privacy. Once information is put into the registry, because of permissions for unconsented disclosure for public health purposes authorized by HIPAA, this information could be used to identify and target individuals who are legally not vaccinated by choice for interventions and harassment. This information could also be used to discriminate against these families down the road or shared with other databases.
- Supporters of vaccine tracking systems claim they are a way to protect patients by guaranteeing patients don’t receive multiple doses of the same vaccinations by different providers. According to CDC’s own statements, though, it’s clear that one purpose of these registries is to create pressure on people who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. CDC openly stated that vaccine registries are a tool to identify areas of “undervaccination” so they can be “addressed” and brought into “compliance.” https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6133a2.htm
- Using Immunization Information Systems costs states millions of dollars. The money spent on vaccine tracking systems would be better spent to measures that actually address public health.
Read the bills here:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/s75
🖨️ Print post
stop S. 75 and its companion bill A. 279, which would require health care providers who administer vaccines to a person 19 years or older to report all such immunizations to a vaccine tracking system.