State Rep. Tom Weber (R-Lake Villa) | repweber.com
State Rep. Tom Weber (R-Lake Villa) | repweber.com
State Rep. Tom Weber (R-Lake Villa) recently spoke out against proposed legislation that he believes would affect the medical privacy of Illinois residents.
According to Illinois Review, Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Highwood) sponsored HB4244, which would require all medical centers to report immunization records to a state-run database. There is currently an immunization registry in place in the state, but it is optional.
"When you see legislation like House Bill 4244 to make it mandatory for your doctor or pharmacist to report all your vaccine information to the state, we have to ask why?" Weber wrote in a Jan. 25 Facebook post. "Currently, Illinois only requires certain vaccines for children in school and health care workers. Even in those instances, only the number of those vaccinated and for what vaccine are reported to the state."
"Current law for the Immunization Data Registry also allows the reporting of vaccine records with personal information to be optional," Weber said. "So why change the rules to require our health care providers to report the information and force each citizen to jump through hoops to protect our private, personal medical information? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t we have to give our consent first before our personal medical information is handed over to the government?"
More than 20,000 witness slips have been filed in opposition to HB4244 on the grounds that it would significantly invade their medical privacy, according to Weber's Facebook post. Witness slips filed in opposition call the legislation “unconstitutional,” “wrong,” and “another step in a wrong and terrifying direction,” the Madison St. Clair Record reported.
"The State of Illinois already has a terrible record of keeping private records safe in the first place," Weber said. "So why does Illinois need to know every resident’s specific vaccination history? Is the Governor’s next plan to use this information to enact statewide bans for those unvaccinated against COVID-19? The voluntary submission of vaccination numbers is one thing, but your personal vaccination information, for any vaccine, should be between you and your doctor. And neither you nor your doctor should be forced to give it to the state."
The bill is on the House Human Services Committee’s calendar for Feb. 2.
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