SKEPTICS FRET ABOUT PRIVACY WITH VACCINE TRACKING
WASHINGTON — As the White House celebrated the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and some lawmakers lined up for doses, one Texas congressman raised the specter of coercion that doesn’t exist and isn’t under discussion. “Would you feel comfortable taking a COVID-19 vaccine if the federal government required registration and contact tracing in order to receive it?” freshman Rep. Lance Gooden, a Dallas-area Republican, asks constituents in an email newsletter.
It sounds scary. Mandatory registration suggests that shirkers could be barred from workplaces, grocery stores, airports and schools. Mandatory contact tracing sounds like the government can demand a list of friends and family, or require a tracking app on your cell phone.
But that’s not what’s happening. Texas and other states have had vaccine registries for decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services are creating a federal clearinghouse to track the rollout, ensure that patients are getting two doses, assess safety and spot geographic gaps.
States and counties would provide data they already collect. And they can report it using numerical identifiers rather than names.
“There is not a federal vaccine registry,” said Mary Beth Kurilo, the senior director of health informatics at the American Immunization Registry. “There obviously is a big need for national level surveillance of what’s happening with COVID vaccination.”
“They’re looking at where the doses are distributed and allocated. And then they’re matching that up with the administered dose information that’s coming in from registries,” she said. “The identity pieces aren’t tied together.”
Gooden did not respond to inquiries Friday. The Terrell lawmaker represents a district that runs from East Dallas nearly to Nacogdoches in East Texas.
He’s not the only Texas Republican stoking privacy concerns related to the vaccine.
Ronny Jackson of Lubbock — a Trumpbacked former White House physician who’ll join Congress next month — highlighted a Wall Street Journal article on Tuesday headlined “Governments Will Want to Track Who Has Had a Covid-19 Vaccine” that explores how Australia, Britain and other countries balance privacy concerns against the medical necessity to track patients.
“This is a TERRIBLE idea!” Jackson tweeted. “Mark my words, this data WILL be used against us if Democrats take the Executive Branch. You’ll find you can’t get on a plane, register kids for school, etc… unless you’re `in the system’. What’s next, a federal gun registry?”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday that most workers could be required to get a shot, although some who cite religious or medical reasons could be exempt.
Other political leaders have taken steps to reassure the public and encourage vaccination.
Vice President Mike Pence got a vaccine Friday morning, televised, sitting in front of a backdrop that read “safe and effective.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited journalists to witness her vaccination at the Capitol, as President-elect Joe Biden and incoming first lady Jill Biden will do on Monday in Delaware.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has gone to some lengths to dispel misconceptions and fears about heavy handed government.
“There is no national vaccine card or anything like that,” he said Dec. 8 at a White House vaccine summit. “You are not going to be forced to take the vaccine against your will.”
Texans who do get the vaccine can expect a reminder card showing when they got their first dose and when they’re due for the second one, and it won’t stop there, Abbott said: “We know that may not be enough, and so on top of that we will be following up with text messages, with phone calls, with email reminders.”
Nancy Kass, professor of bioethics and public health at Johns Hopkins University, called national surveillance vital, especially given the record speed at which these vaccines were developed and deployed.
“The only way that we’re going to know” whether there are safety concerns, or whether the vaccine from Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca is better, is by “actually keeping track.”
“There is nothing more important than trust in the system,” she said, and that’s possible only “if you keep track of whether it’s going well.”
Four organizations of state and local health officials — the Association of Immunization Managers, the American Immunization Registry Association, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials — sent a letter in October to CDC director Robert Redfield expressing reservations about states sharing personal data with the federal government.
In a letter to National Governors Association, HHS called it “critically necessary” for the CDC to have personally identifiable data for vaccine recipients, to ensure that patients get the second dose of the correct vaccine, since there are several; to track adverse reactions; and to assess effectiveness across different demographic groups.
Governments around the globe have wrestled with privacy concerns as the COVID-19 vaccines have become reality.
Some Democrats, such as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have voiced worry that immigrant communities may shun the vaccine without assurance the data will remain private.
Pelosi was just one of the House members who got their doses on Friday. From Texas, so did Reps. Sylvia Garcia, a Houston Democrat, and Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, among others.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, nonchalantly showed his vaccination card in a brief video posted after a visit to the Capitol health unit.
“I encourage everyone when it’s made available to everyone to get the vaccine,” he said. “It’s safe, it’s very effective, it’s going to get us back to a normal place.”