The Knesset plenum today (Wednesday) approved in the second and third reading by a majority of 30 supporters against 13 opponents the The bill that will allow data on vaccinators to be passed on to the Ministry of Education and local authorities. This, after being approved yesterday by the Labor and Welfare Committee.
The law, approved as a temporary provision for three months or until the end of the declaration of a state of emergency following the Corona plague, Allows the Ministry of Health to transfer data of those who have not yet been vaccinated to local authorities, the director general of the Ministry of Education and officials in the Ministry of Welfare who operate treatment institutions. This, in order to allow these bodies to encourage people to get vaccinated, as part of a personal appeal to the same person and additional actions to be defined by the Director General of the Ministry of Health.
According to the Knesset announcement, “the information will be passed to the authorities subject to an active request and the presentation of a plan to encourage immunization among the population included in the database. Names, ID numbers, addresses and telephone numbers of citizens who are allowed to vaccinate and did not do so will be approved by the Director General. For those who received only one vaccine dose and did not arrive on time to receive the second dose, the date of receipt of the first vaccine dose will also be postponed. ”
Merav Michaeli in the Knesset Plenum (Photo: Danny Shem Tov, Knesset Spokeswoman)In order to reduce the invasion of privacy and prevent the misuse of the information, the law stipulates that the information transmitted will only be used to encourage immunization and any other use may be made of it. It is prohibited to make use of information towards a known person as well as a prohibition to involve encouraging vaccination and the provision of services, or to place any conditions subject to a person’s vaccination. Access to the information will be restricted to defined function holders and those exposed to it will be required to sign an undertaking to maintain confidentiality. The information will be deleted at the end of use and no later than 60 days after receipt. A person who has been approached for the purpose of encouraging immunization will be entitled to demand that his details be deleted and that he not be contacted again in this case.
Chairman of the Labor, Welfare and Health Committee, MK Haim Katz, Introduced the bill and said that “the epidemic is not working logically. It is hitting where it can. Unfortunately to date the government has not taken tough action so we are with 5,605 dead. If we had acted differently we would not have reached those numbers. The amount of vaccines among those who think they may not need to be vaccinated. ”
He added: “I am asked where privacy is. Is the value of privacy more important than the value of life? In the committee we removed from the bill data transfer on children and people who received two doses of vaccine. The information will only deal with people who are vaccinated and did not. “Someone else because he wants to go to a party or demonstrate. The sanctity of life is above all.”
MK Tamar Zandberg She said: “I call on the public to get vaccinated and there is no doubt that encouraging vaccines is the most important operation at the moment in the State of Israel, this is the king’s way out of the epidemic. However, it is too easy to pass laws “All other possibilities have been exhausted. I have not seen campaigns of advocacy and encouragement for immunization, the transfer of information that empowers and strengthens the public. The transfer of such data is a slippery slope and it can reach many stakeholders.
MK Merav Michaeli Addressed the Prime Minister and said: “The failure to treat the plague is yours and on your hands. A huge and terrible number of casualties, patients, students who did not study and did not meet friends for a year, hundreds of thousands who lost their livelihoods without economic rehabilitation. You try to hide everything in public relations and information “It belongs to the citizens, and today you are taking away the citizens’ right to privacy about their medical information.”