1. United States
2. S.C.
3. Letter

Under the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the agency is pursuing access to databases of identifiable medical records to investigate vaccine safety and chronic diseases. HHS is attempting to use state-run health information exchanges to feed detailed, identifiable patient data into a federal system. Officials are working to pull real-time feeds of detailed patient medical histories—including prescriptions and doctors' notes—to research links between vaccines, autism, and chronic childhood illnesses. HHS aims to establish a federal surveillance system to tap into state information exchanges, with a goal of accessing data on 90% of the U.S. population by 2028. Public health leaders and executives at state health information exchanges have expressed legal concerns and pushed back, questioning if gathering identifiable medical records for such research is legal or practically useful. This is unacceptable. There are legal ways to collect medical data stripped of identifying information to use for research purposes. There is NO reason our health records should be turned over for studies without identifying information stripped first. This is a HIPPA violation and goes against the governments own laws. In order ot collect records with identifying information, a court order is required. Do not let HHS demand this information from states! Protect our privacy!