Alaska develops vaccine database
Published Monday, January 5, 2009
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Stumble It!ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The state has launched a new database designed to help health care officials track Alaska residents' vaccine history.
The data base is called VacTrAK.
It's the state's first Web-based immunization information system.
The Alaska's Department of Health and Social Services' public health division will manage the database.
Laura Wood, the state's immunization program manager, says only authorized health care providers and designated state health officials can access information.
The department's goal is to have as many immunization records as possible entered into the database.
Community Discussion
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Hmm not to sure about this.
Back in the Dark Ages, when I was growing up, the little health center kept track of our vaccinations (and provided them free). Good to get back some of the good things we used to have!
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This database is not the government 'watching' or 'forcing' children to get immunizations. It is simply a tracking program that is accessible by any clinic with a computer system. I'm a medical assistant from Minnesota and we have had this data base for a long time. It is invaluable when families with little ones come in to our clinics and they have no idea what immunizations their children have had or not had. Clinics do try to record the immunizations on cards and give them to the parents to keep, but they always seem to be 'misplaced' somewhere when it is time to bring the kids in or it is time to have a school or sports physical. And no, the data base inclusion is not voluntary. It is totally up to the parents as to whether they want their child to have any immunization, but once we give it, the record goes into the database. This prevents the children from receiving duplicate vaccinations when they show up at a different clinic for their next appointment/physical. As always, the provider makes recommendations as to what immunizations they think a particular child should have, but it is the parent that makes (a hopefully informed) decision about whether to go along with this recommendation or not. Parents have always had the right of refusal on any immunization.
I'll be checking with my child's doctor at his next visit to see if we can opt out of this silly thing. If not, looks like it's time to seitch to a naturopath for everything.
I'd like to know how many of our tax dollars are going to pay for this system...which we opt out of automatically because we don't vaccinate (and it's none of your business why).
Seems to me these kinds of "tracking" systems always come down to invasion of privacy, in the end, whether that was the intention at the start or not.
Thank goodness! Every year, Its a scramble to find shot records, they are never where they should be, and I always think I will remember where I put them, and never do. We do vaccinate, because the schools require it, the girls got their human pap virus this year.
Its nice to know there is a system too help busy parents keep track.
And also nice too know we are catching up with the rest of the country.
Hi, btw, rabrog.
Peccavi, the schools *don't* require it, you just need to know your rights.
Plus the HPV vax is definitely specious as far as efficacy and long-term effects.
If you can keep track of birth certs, health care cards, and so forth, you can certainly keep track of vax records.
I personally think it is a good idea...if managed correctly. I have been a single dad for about 10 years and can honestly say that this would have been nice when my son was young. Would have relieved a little stress in having to find the shot records everytime it was time to get vacc.
Why are all you "good parents" so unable or unwilling to keep track of a simple piece of paper?
I bet you can find your kid's birth certificate, and his or her insurance card, and any other amount of paperwork.
Why does the state have to keep track of how many shots your kid has per year, and which ones?
Gracious, I have my babies at home, my youngest it 3, and I can still find the card for every postpartum Rhogam shot I've been given. (And that's saying a lot).
We not have to give our children the shot unless they go to public school. And if we get their shots they automaticly go into this system.
I have my childrens shot records and they are grown.
I don't understand, if you are going to the same doctor or clinic shouldn't their shot record be in their medical records. And if you are going to switch doctors or clinic you should go and get your childs records to take them with you.
halt, I didn't understand your last post.
You do NOT have to get your children vaccinated, even if they do go to public school. You simply have to sign a waiver stating you have beliefs that do not support vaccination.
Gold star for you...Im military, you know how many times I have moved in the past ten years? Plus, military keeps track. But its always nice too have my own copy. Id rather have my kids vaccinated, the benefits outweigh the risks. Its nice too know that that information is available, should it be needed in the future. Its a service. Not a tracking system.
Peccavi,
They're your kids, it's your choice.
Just like I prefer my kids' health decisions be MY choice.
I grew up military. My mother still knew where our birth certificates were.
It's not a mandatory tracking mechanism yet. Don't be fooled into believing that it won't grow and eventually be misused. The CDC called us a few months ago and wanted us to take part in a survey regarding childhood vaccines. It was rather lengthy, and when they started asking for access to our sons medical records my wife ended the survey. They called back weekly for several months wanting her to finish and grant access to his records. They were relentless. Big Brother is getting too big and scary. I remember when the military started taking DNA samples on all personnel. They told us it was strictly for identification purposes if we were killed in combat, no one else would ever have access to it, and it would be destroyed once we left the service. It was only a couple years later a soldiers DNA was released when subpeonaed for a paternity case. He fought it in court and lost. I don't know what the result of the paternity test was, but the precedent for releasing soldiers DNA samples was set. Do not trust the government to keep its word.
Smithjoannem, West Virginia and Mississippi do not allow for any type of vaccination exemption. Did you not follow the news stories a few months ago where they were putting parents in jail for not vaccinating their children? Believe me, it was big news in the world of informed refusal participants. So while MOST states allow parents to sign either a philosophical, religious, or at least a medical exemption waiver, two states allow for none of these. If two states can do it, what is preventing other states from following down that path?
If any parents have concerns about the pros and cons of vaccinations, you can find a ton of information at the National Vaccine Information Center: http://www.909shot.com/
Mamabear I was miss informed. I thought Alaska was one of the state that require all children attending public school be vaccinated. No waviers.
I can't see where this new database will be kept secure. To many people will have access to this otherwise it would seem that the system wouldn't work.
I guess I'm just getting suspicious in my old age. I'd rather take care of my things then allow someone else to do it for me.
I was military and we always had to carry the kids shot records.
I believe in the science of immunizations; Polio and Smallpox are gone for a reason. Yes, some deadly virus progress and die-out by themselves but with great cost, like the 1918 influenza pandemic. Everyday your body's immune system's integrity it tested by minor micro-threats and the immune system catalogues and remembers for them years or a lifetime, they are in effect natural inoculations. So you get a shot and the dead virus's protein coats molecular structure or a weakened form is introduced into your bloodstream, it's a mug shot for your immune system and you don't even have to get sick to be protected.
BUT, I am with halt when it comes to not trusting the government, look what they did after the Social Security Act of 1935. The s.s. numbers were originally intended to be used only by the social security program. People at that time started freaking out about privacy; "oh no they will be using it to track me, I won’t be able to get a job or get a mortgage without it, it will be a way for the government to track me down to the details of my private life! So the government gave public assurances at the time that the s.s. number's use would be strictly limited. Well, that worked real well did'nt it? I’m sure that Laura Wood will give the same type of assurances.
Hi...I'm going to jump back in and make a few comments. No, I hadn't heard that there were some states that would not take "NO" for an answer on the vaccines! That is indeed an invasion of privacy! Those of you who are asking why we are using these databases, it is simply because the parents are NOT keeping track of their children's immunizations. They show up at 'new' clinics, and the clinics have no idea of the vaccination record of that particular child. The child and parent are often accompanied by a letter from the school saying that they either have to get immunized or fill out the exemption forms. It would not be good to give the child yet another 'booster' just because the parent was a poor organizer.
It is very rare now to find mercury in the vaccines, and has been for a few years...and yet the autism rate doesn't seem to be affected. Many people are therefore concluding that the increase in autism had nothing to do with the thimerisol (mercury) preservative. Are they right? I don't know.
These vaccines have indeed greatly diminished the human suffering from a number of diseases. We are still seeing post-polio syndrome in the clinics where they people that had polio in the early 50's are now getting symptoms again. People that had chicken pox as children are now coming to the clinics with Shingles, a very painful flareup up the Herpes Zoster virus that has been dormant in the nerves all these years and is activated by some factor such as stress or injury. My own mother died in 1985 from kidney failure which her urologist believed was brought on by exposure to the pandemic flu virus in 1918. So there are reasons to vaccinate. Would I vaccinate my baby if I were a young parent now? Yes, to some extent. But I would never say yes to 25 different vaccinations, and I would insist on only one vaccine per visit, even if it meant that I had to come back several times. I would also never vaccinate if my child was ill in any way. Too often decisions about vaccines are made by providers who are thinking, "Let's vaccinate this kid while they are here; they may not come back." And yes, every clinic in the state has a password to get into the system, so we as nurses can get the info on any child.
As to the other question about the government tracking, we have a situation here in Minnesota that is causing some of us great concern. Newborn babies here in MN are tested for 55 different 'inborn errors of metabolism' by pricking the heel of the baby and placing spots of blood on a card...if the baby is missing a particular gene to make a particular protein, medical intervention can keep that child from going on to a life of suffering terribly. No one disagrees with this. The problem is that the Department of Health is refusing to destroy the blood spots that were sent in on the cards, and they are beginning to release some of them to researchers. They have now got the DNA samples of over 750,000 little ones in MN! There is an 'opt out' provision, but this must be initiated by the parent and even then the blood sample is not destroyed until the baby is 2 years old. We have been fighting this because we can see the same dangers that you are mentioning: What happens when your child is older and is turned down for employment or health/life insurance because their genetic profile shows that they have a propensity toward cancer or heart disease? Why is the Health Department fighting this so hard? There have been hearings before an Administrative Law Judge, but the Health Department simply went to the legislature. The issue is not settled yet because of the tenacity of the leader of this group of nurses and parents, but you can see the similarity to what you have been discussing here. Joanne Smith
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