Your small investment of time WILL make a very much needed impact. As a parent who is concerned about the confidentiality of my child's medical records, I would like to make my concerns about the proposed rules for the Immunization Tracking System a part of public record during this comment period. Parents not wishing to have their child included in the registry should not have to do anything. The law only requires consent to release the data, not a written statement to prohibit it. Requiring parents to write and mail a separate form to TDH is redundant.
Doctors already have consent forms.
As a parent concerned about the confidentiality of my child's medical records, I don't want TDH to have my child's records at all if I have not given consent. This intent of the law is to protect confidentiality and honor consent. The rules circumvent that intent. Since consent is no longer granted, then section 161.008 should also apply here. TDH no longer has consent, so according to the law, they no longer have the authority to obtain the data.