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TO AMEND TITLE 44, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO HEALTH, BY ADDING CHAPTER 34 SO AS TO ENACT THE SOUTH CAROLINA IMMUNIZATION REGISTRY ACT WHICH PROVIDES FOR AN ELECTRONIC REPOSITORY OF VACCINATION RECORDS TO BE USED IN AIDING CHILDHOOD DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Title 44 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 44-34-10. The Department of Health and Environmental Control shall establish and maintain an immunization registry to be used by public and private providers of immunization services. The purpose of the registry is to provide a single, electronic repository of complete and current vaccination records to be used in aiding, coordinating, and promoting effective and cost-efficient childhood disease prevention and control efforts. Registry data is confidential, and access to content is limited to those entities or individuals authorized by the department.
Section 44-34-20. A person who administers a vaccine or vaccines licensed by the United States Food and Drug Administration to a child under the age of eighteen shall provide for each vaccination to the department within fourteen days of administration, the data considered necessary by the department and appropriate for the purposes of the immunization registry. The data includes the patient demographic and immunization data listed below:
(1) patient information:
(a) name: first, middle, last;
(b) date of birth;
(c) gender;
(d) state and country of birth;
(e) eligibility for Vaccine Assurance for all Children (VAFAC);
(f) mother's first, middle, last, and maiden names, if patient is not of legal age;
(2) vaccine information:
(a) type;
(b) manufacturer;
(c) dose number;
(d) injection site and route;
(e) administration date;
(f) lot number;
(g) provider;
(h) complications or side effects resulting from a vaccination, if any.
(B) Vaccination data reporting requirements including without limitation the types of data required to be reported and the time and manner of reporting the data, shall being after the registry has established linkages to vaccine providers and must be established by the department in consultation with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Section 44-34-30. The department shall utilize the registry to provide notices, whether by mail, telephone, personal contact, or other means, to parents or guardians regarding their children or wards who are due or overdue for a vaccination according to the recommended vaccination schedule.
Section 44-34-40. Vaccination reporting is required for children under the age of eighteen and reporting is encouraged for patients of all ages. Vaccination records for a person included within the immunization registry must be maintained in the registry in perpetuity.
Section 44-34-50. Individually identifiable vaccination information regarding a child may be provided to the department by or released by the department to a local health department, hospital, physician, or other provider of medical services to the child or to a school or child care facility in which the child is enrolled without the consent of the child's parents or guardians. All children under the age of eighteen must be enrolled in the registry. A parent or guardian may obtain, and upon request to the department or provider, must be provided with all individually identifiable vaccination registry information regarding his child or ward. Except as provided otherwise by this chapter, individually identifiable vaccination registry information must be treated as confidential and may not be released to a third party without consent of a child's parent or guardian.
Section 44-34-60. Nothing in this chapter may:
(1) prohibit the department from providing or publishing registry information in unidentified aggregate form for scientific educational, or public health purposes, provided that this information is published without releasing or identifying individual names contained in the registry;
(2) prohibit the department or a medical services provider from notifying a parent, guardian, or child of the child's vaccination status or of a vaccination that is due or overdue according to recommended vaccination schedules; or
(3) diminish a parent's or guardian's responsibility of having a child vaccinated properly.
Section 44-34-70. The registry is accessible to providers for public health purposes only.
Information contained in the immunization registry must be confidential and not subject to inspection by persons other than authorized personnel of the department. The department may disclose the immunizations administered to a child and the date of the administrations and may permit access to the information by a person authorized to administer an immunization, who is immunizing or treating the child or other person or agency concerned with the immunization of children authorized by the department when (i) the person or agency provides sufficient identifying information satisfactory to the department to identify the child and (ii) the disclosure is in the best interest of the child and family or will contribute to the protection of the public health. Only information concerning the name of the child and the child's immunization status must be available for access to other providers and agencies. Other identifying information, such as address, social security number, must not be available.
The department is authorized and directed to promulgate those regulations as necessary and appropriate to implement the provisions of this chapter."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
This web page was last updated on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 9:26 A.M.