Colorado Citizens Against Resolution Concerning Immunization Registries and Notification

COLORADO CITIZENS RESOLUTION CONCERNING IMMUNIZATION REGISTRIES AND
NOTIFICATION
SB05-087 AND HB05-1161

WHEREAS: Colorados coverage level for most of the vaccines required for children is already high without utilizing a statewide tracking system with recall; and

WHEREAS: The current immunization tracking law, C.R.S. 25-4-1705(e)(I), allows data or epidemiological information to be collected for the tracking system by; birth certificates, physicians, health care practitioners, clinics, schools, parents, students, managed care organizations, health insurers, hospitals and persons or entities that have contracted with the state without consent; and

WHEREAS; parents do not have to be notified their children's vaccination information has been put into the tracking system, there are no provisions to purge the data at any time and protected health information can be disclosed without an opportunity to object based on the federal medical privacy rule; and

WHEREAS: SB087 would allow the health department or an unspecified contractor to directly contact a parent for the purpose of notifying if vaccines are due or overdue based on the recommendations made by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee On Immunization Practices or The American Academy of Pediatrics, or when it is necessary to control an outbreak of or prevent the spread of a vaccine-preventable disease; and

WHEREAS: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations include shots not required by Colorado, such as flu vaccine and the new meningitis vaccine.

WHEREAS: immunization tracking registries can be up to 40\% inaccurate and therefore relying on inaccurate tracking system data could result in over vaccination instead of preventing it; and
WHEREAS: HB1161 may take as much as $5 million annually from Cover Colorado, a much needed program providing insurance to Colorado citizens;

THEREFORE; we the undersigned, are opposed to the passage
of both HB1161 and SB087 which in combination would fund and expand
Colorado's immunization registry and allow unspecified individuals
access to what should be private medical records and pave the way for
harassment of parents who exercise their right to exempt their children from one or more of the recommended vaccines according to the one-size-fits-all national recommendations.