Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Although vaccine rollout began slowly in the United States, millions of people are now being vaccinated against COVID-19 per day. As individuals receive the vaccine, states have been collecting personal health data in individual immunization registries. Experts say this data collection is essential to effectively monitor vaccination progress, report adverse reactions, compare vaccine efficacy in cross sections of the population, and keep track of who needs second doses and when.
Although states have traditionally been responsible for collecting immunization data without federal intervention, some say the global scale of the pandemic and the need to understand vaccination progress nationally require greater federal intervention in tracking immunization data. In December 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began asking states to enter into Data Use and Sharing Agreements that would require states to share vaccination data with the federal government, with the stated goal of “generat[ing] a comprehensive picture of COVID-19 vaccine uptake nationally.” Many states have signed the agreements as is, but some have negotiated with the CDC to share less data, or to ensure that the data will not be used for particular purposes. Minnesota and Colorado, for instance, will only submit de-identified data on vaccine doses administered in each state. California will only provide the federal government with the birth year and sex of vaccinated individuals, as well as the county where the vaccine was administered.