The end of the blue register: soon every Israeli will know if they have been vaccinated and when, after the Knesset approved in third reading the bill to establish a national vaccine database, which will allow every citizen to receive information about all the vaccinations he has received in his lifetime and the Ministry of Health to monitor the vaccination rate. The Ministry of Health allocated about one million shekels for the implementation of the move.
For years, medical officials have been calling on the Ministry of Health to establish a database of information on vaccines in Israel. Today, there is partial computerized information for each insured person in the coffers about the vaccinations they received as part of that coffers, but additional vaccinations such as those given at travel centers or in the IDF do not appear there. The absence of the national database prevents both supervision of the vaccination rate and does not allow the funds to monitor the vaccinations or prevent a person from receiving the same vaccine twice.
“This is great news,” said Health Minister Uriel Bosso: “The care providers will be able to provide optimal medical care to their patients, and the Ministry of Health will be able to protect public health from the spread of infectious diseases.”
The Minister of Health added: “More importantly, it will be possible for every person to replace the blue or yellow register in the past, and to receive independently and digitally all the information regarding all the vaccinations that he or his children received during their lifetime.”
According to the bill, initiated by Knesset members Eliyahu Baruchi Walid Alohashla, the database will include information about all the vaccinations that each person received by the immunizing agencies as defined in the bill – the Ministry of Health, health insurance funds, hospitals, clinics, emergency medical services, the IDF and any other agency Another warehouse to be determined by the Minister of Health.
The database will be used only for the purposes listed in the bill, so that citizens’ privacy will be preserved and the use will be made solely for the benefit of public health. The Ministry of Health will allow those who have received a vaccine to view, including digitally, all the vaccines given to them by the vaccinators.