By 1819 News Staff
Responding to criticism over the passage Thursday of the “Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act,” Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL 06) said Friday that the bill does not create a database to track COVID vaccines
While the legislation does provide $400 million to fund “immunization system data modernization and expansion,’’ the bill is not focused on COVID or COVID vaccinations but rather, according to Palmer, modernizes a system that has been in place since the 1990s.
The bill passed the House 294-130, with nine abstentions, and was taken under a House procedure called “suspension of the rules” which is typically used to pass non-controversial bills. Eighty Republicans – including Palmer, Mike Rogers (AL-03) and Jerry Carl (AL-01) – voted for the passage of the bill, which has to go to the Senate.
“Recent news stories have unfortunately wrapped H.R. 550 into the politics of COVID and vaccine mandates, which in fact this bill does not deal directly with either,’’ Palmer said in a statement released by his office. “This legislation was not written to track COVID vaccines, it does not create a federal vaccines database, and it does not release private health information.
“It does not create any new program, but deals solely with the state and local public health data systems that have existed since the 1990s to track amassed statistics, outbreak responses, and full immunization programs such as schools’ full vaccines requirements. They do not track individual information.”
Palmer has long worked for the modernization of federal systems and improved efficiency in government programs.
“H.R. 550 seeks to address that many of these existing data systems are outdated and have fallen behind on their upkeep,’’ Palmer said. “The bill authorized grants that would go towards helping states manage these antiquated databases.”
Palmer said he has and will continue to vote against any bill that authorizes COVID vaccine mandates and the tracking of individual information.
“I sympathize with those who are concerned about too much government control over health care decisions,” Palmer said. “It’s unfortunate that COVID continues to be politicized to instill fear and to allow the government to infringe on our basic rights. … But H.R. 550 does not mention COVID or COVID vaccines, and it does not violate privacy protections. It simply provides authorization for funding that would assist in upkeep of already existing data systems.”
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