Lake County Gazette

Springfield, IL… State Representative Tom Weber (R-Lake Villa), sits on the Human Services Committee, which is considering HB 4244. He released the following statement on the bill:

"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? 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. 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? The State of Illinois already has a terrible record of keeping private records safe in the first place. 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."

###