North Carolina Physicians For Freedom Response
Senators,
North Carolina Physicians for Freedom (NCPFF) joins a growing number of healthcare professionals nationally who are deeply concerned about the potential implications and ramifications of H.R. 550: the “Immunization Infrastructure and Modernization Act of 2021.”
H.R. 550’s stated goal is to expand the vaccine-related information collection and tracking capabilities for the CDC and for other public health departments; to monitor citizens’ vaccine status; and to report that information to the federal government. But the sharing of information does not stop there.
This “modernization” would cost the American taxpayer a stunning $400 million dollars, in part through grants to health departments and other federal agencies to improve their systems. There is ostensibly a limit on who possesses the authority to collect, access and report this information. However, anytime data on an entire population is gathered and shared, breaches of privacy are inevitable.
Assurances of security and confidentiality appear to be tied to “consensus-based standards”, with the employment of “consensus-based organizations” to collect and distribute information. This is apparently to serve the interests of big Pharma and big business. But the information can be used for wrongful purposes.
Government grants almost always involve outside entities; and the involvement of public-private partnerships in this effort virtually ensures that breaches of data and patient privacy will occur on a massive scale.
Information is power. HIPAA was developed to protect our individual rights and medical privacy from those who would use health information for nefarious ends… and gain. We know that HIPAA already has gaping regulatory loopholes in terms of who may or may not access a patient’s information. We believe H.R. 550 will create an environment that turns those regulatory loopholes into crevasses. In the recent past, we have all seen massive breaches of governmental electronic databases. Once our personal medical information is exposed, it cannot be retrieved.
As dedicated physicians, we work hard to gain the trust of our patients and protect their privacy. Our partnership with them for their health and well-being helps them make the best decisions. A bill like H.R. 550 will erode that trust, and will weaken our ability to convince patients that we are on their side. Senators, we are all patients at one time or another, so we will all be at risk for intrusion and interference with critical decision-making regarding our lives and our future.
Finally, we believe H.R. 550 is a Pandora’s Box that will enable further mandates and invasions of personal privacy. We urge you to review not only the precise text of this legislation, but also its potential for harm… and its true intent.
Americans have a right to medical privacy. Physicians have a responsibility to help protect that right. We believe you also have that responsibility.
Respectfully,
The North Carolina Physicians For Freedom
Leaders and Members
