Government Data Tracking and Parental Rights in Vaccination Policy

On the Friday August 30, 2019 broadcast, Kim Monson explores the alarming expansion of government data collection on children and families with vaccination choice advocate Heather Lahdenpera and National Vaccination Information Center representative Cindy Loveland. The discussion reveals how state agencies attempt to circumvent privacy laws to track citizens through health registries.

Lewis Palmer School District Defies State Sex Ed Mandate

Start listening at 16:48 – Hour 1

Kim Monson opens with news that Lewis Palmer School District 38 announced it will not follow the controversial House Bill 19-1032, which mandates comprehensive sex education including LGBTQ content. School board member Mark Poff declared the district satisfied with its current curriculum, questioning whether children are “broken” without the new requirements. The district’s stance represents a broader pushback against state legislators dictating local educational decisions.

Planned Parenthood’s Vice President of Education Allison Macklin supports the law and suggests districts that refuse the comprehensive approach should not teach sex education at all. Kim points out the irony of Planned Parenthood, an organization that champions “choice,” seeking to eliminate local districts’ ability to make their own curricular decisions. The situation mirrors the debate over Senate Bill 181, where lawmakers granted local control over oil and gas but deny similar autonomy in education.

State Agencies Mining Children’s Health Data

Start listening at 33:44 – Hour 1

Heather Lahdenpera warns that Colorado’s immunization tracking system has evolved far beyond its original 1992 purpose of tracking infant vaccinations. The state now seeks to require parents filing vaccine exemptions to submit personally identifiable information directly to health department databases, bypassing federal FERPA protections that apply to school records. She explains how HB 1312 would have expanded required vaccinations from 21 to 52 shots and enabled the Board of Health to add vaccines indefinitely.

Lahdenpera describes the troubling precedent of comparing vaccine exemption registries to sex offender databases, where citizens must register their addresses and names with the state for exercising a legal right. The health department has created no privacy policy governing this data, leaving families vulnerable to data brokering and targeted outreach campaigns for non-required vaccines. After failed legislation in 2016 and 2019, the agency now attempts rulemaking to achieve what legislators rejected.

“These forms contain personally identifiable information on every child. That would be then entered into a state database, a registry, if you will, like a sex offender would have to fill out information with address, with name, into a state database.”

Heather Lahdenpera, Vaccination Choice Advocate

Federal Privacy Laws Under Attack

Start listening at 44:00 – Hour 1

Cindy Loveland of the National Vaccination Information Center traces the legislative history of Colorado’s vaccine tracking system. What began as infant immunization tracking expanded in 2007 to include adults without public awareness. The system can collect data from practitioners, clinics, schools, hospitals, and insurance companies, then use it for direct contact campaigns.

Loveland reveals that efforts to make the registry opt-in failed because officials admitted they “wouldn’t be able to capture everybody” if permission were required. Once data enters the health department system, HIPAA provides no meaningful protection against sharing with numerous entities. She compares the registry to the Hotel California, noting that even when citizens attempt to opt out, their data is never purged. Florida has already used such systems to conduct door-to-door vaccination campaigns.

“And they failed because, and this was told to me by the sponsor of that bill in 2005, that if we ask permission, then we wouldn’t be able to capture everybody.”

Cindy Loveland, National Vaccination Information Center