2023 New York Laws › PBH - Public Health › Article 21 - Control of Acute Communicable Diseases › Title 6 - Poliomyelitis and Other Diseases › 2168 - Statewide Immunization Information System.

§  2168.  Statewide immunization information system. 1. The department
is hereby directed to establish a  statewide  automated  and  electronic
immunization   information   system   that  will  serve,  and  shall  be
administered consistent with, the following public health purposes:
(a) collect reports of immunizations and thus reduce the incidence  of
illness,  disability  and  death due to vaccine preventable diseases and
collect results of blood lead analyses  performed  by  physician  office
laboratories  to  provide  to  the  statewide registry of lead levels of
children established pursuant to section thirteen hundred  seventy-a  of
this chapter;
(b)  establish  the  public health infrastructure necessary to obtain,
collect,  preserve,  and  disclose  information  relating   to   vaccine
preventable  disease  as it may promote the health and well-being of all
children in this state;
(c) make available to an individual, or parents, guardians,  or  other
person in a custodial relation to a child or, to local health districts,
local  social services districts responsible for the care and custody of
children, health  care  providers  and  their  designees,  schools,  WIC
programs,  and  third  party payers the immunization status of children;
and
(d)  appropriately  protecting  the  confidentiality   of   individual
identifying  information  and  the  privacy  of  persons included in the
statewide immunization information system and their families.
2. For the purposes of this section:
(a) The term  "authorized  user"  shall  mean  any  person  or  entity
authorized  to provide information to or to receive information from the
statewide immunization information system and shall include health  care
providers  and  their  designees,  as  defined  in paragraph (d) of this
subdivision, schools as defined in paragraph a  of  subdivision  one  of
section twenty-one hundred sixty-four of this title, colleges as defined
in  section two of the education law, professional and technical schools
as referred to in the definition of higher education in section  two  of
the  education  law,  children's overnight camps and summer day camps as
defined in section thirteen hundred ninety-two of  this  chapter,  third
party  payer  as  defined  in  paragraph  (f) of this subdivision, local
health districts as defined by  paragraph  (c)  of  subdivision  one  of
section  two  of  this  chapter, local social services districts and the
office of children and family services with regard to children in  their
legal  custody,  WIC  programs  as  defined  in  paragraph  (g)  of this
subdivision, registered professional nurses, and pharmacists  authorized
to  administer  immunizations  pursuant  to  subdivision  two of section
sixty-eight hundred one of the education law. An authorized user may  be
located  outside  New  York  state.  An entity other than a local health
district shall be an authorized user  only  with  respect  to  a  person
seeking  or  receiving  a  health  care  service  from  the  health care
provider, a person enrolled or seeking to be enrolled in the  school,  a
person  insured by the third party payer, a person in the custody of the
local social services district or the  office  of  children  and  family
services,  or  a  person  seeking  or  receiving  services  through  WIC
programs, as the case may be.
(b) The term "statewide immunization information system"  or  "system"
shall   mean   a   statewide-computerized  database  maintained  by  the
department capable of collecting, storing, and disclosing the electronic
and paper records of vaccinations received  by  persons  under  nineteen
years of age.
(c)   The   term  "citywide  immunization  registry"  shall  mean  the
computerized database maintained by the city of New York  department  of
health and mental hygiene capable of collecting, storing, and disclosing

the  electronic  and  paper  records of vaccinations received by persons
less than  nineteen  years  of  age.  The  term  "citywide  immunization
registry"   shall   not   include  the  childhood  blood  lead  registry
established pursuant to the health code of the city of New York. For the
purposes of this section the term New York city department of health and
mental   hygiene,  shall  mean  such  agency  or  any  successor  agency
responsible for the citywide immunization registry.
(d) The term "health care provider" shall mean any  person  authorized
by  law  to order an immunization or analysis of a blood sample for lead
or any health care facility licensed under article twenty-eight of  this
chapter  or  any  certified home health agency established under section
thirty-six hundred six of this chapter; with respect to a person seeking
or receiving a health care service from the health care provider.
(e) For  purposes  of  this  section  a  school  is  a  public  health
authority,  as defined in section 164.501 of part 45 of the federal code
of rules, responsible for screening  the  immunization  status  of  each
child pursuant to section twenty-one hundred sixty-four of this article.
(f)  The  term  "third  party  payer"  shall  mean  health maintenance
organizations certified under article forty-four of this chapter, health
service corporations licensed pursuant to  article  forty-three  of  the
insurance  law,  self-insured  plans  that pay for health care services,
health  insurance  companies  subject  to  article  thirty-two  of   the
insurance  law  which  offer  preferred  provider products, corporations
subject  to  article  forty-three  of  the  insurance  law  which  offer
preferred  provider products, municipal cooperative health benefit plans
certified pursuant to article forty-seven of  the  insurance  law  which
offer  preferred provider products, and preferred provider organizations
as  defined  in  section  three  hundred  fifty-two  of   the   workers'
compensation law.
(g)  For  purposes of this section the term "WIC program" shall mean a
state or local agency, as described pursuant to section 1786 of title 42
of the United States Code.
(h) The term "physician office laboratory"  shall  mean  a  laboratory
operated  by  a  health  care  provider  pursuant  to subdivision one of
section five hundred seventy-nine of this chapter that is  certified  by
the  Centers  for  Medicare  and  Medicaid  Services  under  regulations
implementing the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement  Amendments  of
1988 (CLIA).
3.  (a)  (i) Any health care provider who administers any vaccine to a
person less than nineteen years of age or, on or after September  first,
two  thousand  nine, conducts a blood lead analysis of a sample obtained
from a person under eighteen years of age in accordance  with  paragraph
(h)  of subdivision two of this section; and immunizations received by a
person less than nineteen years of  age  in  the  past  if  not  already
reported,  shall  report  all  such immunizations and the results of any
blood lead analysis to the department in  a  format  prescribed  by  the
commissioner   within   fourteen   days   of   administration   of  such
immunizations or of  obtaining  the  results  of  any  such  blood  lead
analysis.  Health  care providers administering immunizations to persons
less than nineteen years of age in the city of New York shall report, in
a format prescribed by the city of New York commissioner of  health  and
mental  hygiene,  all  such  immunizations  to the citywide immunization
registry. Health care providers who conduct a blood lead analysis  on  a
person  under  eighteen  years of age and who report the results of such
analysis to the city of New  York  commissioner  of  health  and  mental
hygiene pursuant to New York city reporting requirements shall be exempt
from  this  requirement for reporting blood lead analysis results to the
state commissioner of health; provided,  however,  blood  lead  analysis

data collected from physician office laboratories by the commissioner of
health and mental hygiene of the city of New York pursuant to the health
code  of  the  city of New York shall be provided to the department in a
format prescribed by the commissioner.
(ii)  A  pharmacist  who administers a vaccine pursuant to subdivision
two of section sixty-eight hundred one of the education law, to a person
less than nineteen years of age, shall report all such immunizations  to
the  department  in  a  format  prescribed  by  the  commissioner within
fourteen days  of  administration  of  such  immunizations.  Pharmacists
administering  immunizations  pursuant  to  subdivision  two  of section
sixty-eight hundred one of  the  education  law  to  persons  less  than
nineteen  years of age in the city of New York shall report, in a format
prescribed by the city of New York commissioner  of  health  and  mental
hygiene, all such immunizations to the citywide immunization registry.
(b)  (i)  Any  health  care  provider who administers any vaccine to a
person nineteen years of age or older, may report, with the  consent  of
the  vaccinee,  all  such  immunizations  to  the department in a format
prescribed by the commissioner within fourteen days of administration of
such immunizations. Health care providers administering immunizations to
persons nineteen years of age or older in  the  city  of  New  York  may
report,  with the consent of the vaccinee, in a format prescribed by the
city of New York commissioner of health and  mental  hygiene,  all  such
immunizations to the citywide immunization registry.
(ii)  A registered professional nurse, or a pharmacist who administers
a vaccine pursuant to subdivision two of section sixty-eight hundred one
of the education law, to a person nineteen years of age or older,  shall
report,  with the consent of the vaccinee, all such immunizations to the
department in a format prescribed by the  commissioner  within  fourteen
days  of  administration  of such immunizations. Registered professional
nurses  or   pharmacists   administering   immunizations   pursuant   to
subdivision two of section sixty-eight hundred one of the education law,
to  persons nineteen years of age or older in the city of New York shall
report, with the consent of the vaccinee, in a format prescribed by  the
city  of  New  York  commissioner of health and mental hygiene, all such
immunizations to the citywide immunization registry.
(c) The statewide immunization  information  system  shall  provide  a
method for health care providers to determine when the registrant is due
or  late  for  a recommended immunization and shall serve as a means for
authorized users to receive prompt and accurate information, as reported
to the system, about the vaccines that the registrant has received.
4. (a) All information maintained by the department, or in the case of
the citywide immunization registry, the  city  of  New  York  under  the
provisions  of this section shall be confidential except as necessary to
carry out the provisions of this section and shall not be  released  for
any other purpose.
(b)  The  department  and  for  the city of New York the department of
health and mental hygiene may also disclose or provide such  information
to an authorized user when (i) such person or agency provides sufficient
identifying  information satisfactory to the department to identify such
registrant and (ii) such disclosure or provision of  information  is  in
the  best  interests  of  the  registrant  or his or her family, or will
contribute to the protection of the public health.
(c) Any data collected by  the  department  may  be  included  in  the
statewide  immunization information system and the statewide registry of
lead levels of children if collection, storage and access of  such  data
is  otherwise  authorized.  Such  data may be disclosed to the statewide
immunization information system only  if  provided  for  in  statute  or
regulation,  and  shall  be subject to any provisions in such statute or

regulation limiting  the  use  or  redisclosure  of  the  data.  Nothing
contained  in  this  paragraph  shall  permit  inclusion  of data in the
statewide  immunization  information  system  if  that  data  could  not
otherwise be accessed or disclosed in the absence of the system. For the
city  of  New  York  the  commissioner  of health and mental hygiene may
include data collected in the citywide immunization registry as provided
in this paragraph.
(c-1) The department may require the collection  of,  maintenance  and
access  to newborn infant hearing screening data and results through the
statewide immunization information system  in  accordance  with  section
twenty-five hundred-g of this chapter.
(d)  A  person,  institution  or  agency  to  whom  such  immunization
information is furnished or to whom, access to  records  or  information
has been given, shall not divulge any part thereof so as to disclose the
identity  of  such  person  to  whom such information or record relates,
except insofar as such disclosure is necessary for the best interests of
the person or other  persons,  consistent  with  the  purposes  of  this
section.
5.  (a)  All  health  care  providers  and their designees, except for
providers reporting to the citywide immunization registry, shall  submit
to  the  commissioner  information about any vaccinee less than nineteen
years of age and about each vaccination given after January  first,  two
thousand  eight.  The information provided to the system or the citywide
immunization registry shall include the  national  immunization  program
data  elements  and other elements required by the commissioner. For the
city of New York the commissioner  of  health  and  mental  hygiene  may
require additional elements with prior notice to the commissioner of any
changes.
(b)   In  addition  to  the  immunization  administration  information
required by this section, the operation  of  any  immunization  registry
established  under  chapter  five  hundred  twenty-one  of  the  laws of
nineteen hundred ninety-four, section  11.07  of  title  twenty-four  of
volume eight of the compilation of the rules of the city of New York and
administered  by  a  local  health  district collecting information from
health care providers about vaccinations previously  administered  to  a
vaccinee  prior  to the effective date of this section shall provide the
commissioner access to such information.
(c) All health care providers shall  provide  the  department  or,  as
appropriate,  the  city  of  New  York  with  additional  or  clarifying
information upon request reasonably related  to  the  purposes  of  this
section.
(d)  Notwithstanding  the  above, submission of incomplete information
shall not  prohibit  entry  of  incomplete  but  viable  data  into  the
statewide immunization information system.
(e)  The  commissioner  of the department of health and mental hygiene
for the city of New  York  shall  implement  the  requirements  of  this
subdivision.
(f)  The  immunization  status  of  children exempt from immunizations
pursuant to subdivision eight of section twenty-one  hundred  sixty-four
of this title shall be reported by the health care provider.
6.  In  the  city  of  New York, the commissioner of the department of
health and mental hygiene of the city  of  New  York  may  maintain  its
existing  registry  consistent with the requirements of this section and
shall provide information to the commissioner and to authorized users.
7. Each parent or legal guardian of a newborn infant or a child  newly
enrolled  in the statewide immunization information system shall receive
information, developed by  the  department,  describing  the  enrollment
process  and  how to review and correct information and obtain a copy of

the  child's  immunization  record.  The  city  of  New  York  will   be
responsible for providing information about the processes for enrollment
and  access  to  the citywide immunization registry by a parent or legal
guardian  of  a  newborn  infant or newly enrolled child residing in the
city of New York.
8. Access and use of  identifiable  registrant  information  shall  be
limited  to  authorized  users  consistent with this subdivision and the
purposes of this section. (a) The commissioner shall provide a method by
which authorized users apply for access to the system. For the  city  of
New  York, the commissioner of health and mental hygiene shall provide a
method by which authorized  users  apply  for  access  to  the  citywide
immunization registry.
(b)   (i)   The   commissioner  may  use  the  statewide  immunization
information system and the blood lead information  in  such  system  for
purposes  of outreach, quality improvement and accountability, including
professional responsibility proceedings of the  office  of  professional
medical   conduct   and   the   state  education  department,  research,
epidemiological studies and disease control, and to  obtain  blood  lead
test  results  from  physician  office  laboratories  for  the statewide
registry of lead levels of children established pursuant to  subdivision
two  of  section  thirteen  hundred  seventy-a of this chapter; (ii) the
commissioner of health and mental hygiene for the city of New  York  may
use  the  immunization  registry  and the blood lead information in such
system for purposes of outreach, quality improvement and accountability,
research, epidemiological  studies  and  disease  control;  (iii)  local
health  departments  shall  have  access to the immunization information
system and the blood lead information in such  system  for  purposes  of
outreach,   quality   improvement  and  accountability,  epidemiological
studies and disease control within their county; and
(c) health care providers and their designees, registered professional
nurses, and pharmacists authorized to administer immunizations  pursuant
to  subdivision  two of section sixty-eight hundred one of the education
law shall have access to the statewide immunization  information  system
and  the  blood  lead  information  in  such system only for purposes of
submission of information about  vaccinations  received  by  a  specific
registrant,  determination  of  the  immunization  status  of a specific
registrant, determination of the blood lead testing status of a specific
registrant, submission of the results from a blood lead  analysis  of  a
sample  obtained from a specific registrant in accordance with paragraph
(h) of subdivision two of this section,  review  of  practice  coverage,
generation  of reminder notices, quality improvement and accountability,
including professional  responsibility  proceedings  of  the  office  of
professional  medical  conduct  and  the state education department, and
printing a copy of the immunization  or  lead  testing  record  for  the
registrant's medical record, for the registrant's parent or guardian, or
other  person  in  parental  or  custodial relation to a child, or for a
registrant upon reaching eighteen years of age.
(d) The following authorized users shall have access to the  statewide
immunization  information  system and the blood lead information in such
system and the citywide immunization registry for the purposes stated in
this paragraph: (i) schools for the purpose  of  verifying  immunization
status  for  eligibility  for admission, for the purpose of confirming a
student has been  screened  for  lead  when  enrolling  in  child  care,
pre-school,  pre-kindergarten  or kindergarten, and for the provision of
appropriate educational materials developed by the  department  pursuant
to  section thirteen hundred seventy-a of this chapter on the dangers of
lead exposure, and the health risks associated with elevated blood  lead
levels to the parents or legal guardians of the student with an elevated

blood  lead level, as such term is defined in subdivision six of section
thirteen hundred seventy of this chapter,  as  well  as  information  on
programs  that  may be available to the student and the parents or legal
guardians of the student. For each school that has the technical ability
to  batch  download  sets  of immunization records, the department shall
make available such sets of immunization records of only those  children
submitted  by the school for which the school has obtained a certificate
of immunization or for which the school has responsibility to verify the
immunization  status  for  school  attendance  purposes  under   section
twenty-one  hundred  sixty-four  of this article. Schools shall properly
safeguard such information for use only as authorized by  this  section;
(ii)  colleges  for  verifying  immunization  status for eligibility for
admission;  (iii)  professional  and  technical  schools  for  verifying
immunization  status  for  eligibility  for  admission;  (iv) children's
overnight camps and summer day camps for verifying  immunization  status
of children attending camp; (v) third party payer for performing quality
assurance, accountability and outreach, relating to enrollees covered by
the  third  party  payer;  (vi)  commissioners  of local social services
districts with regard to a child in his/her  legal  custody;  (vii)  the
commissioner  of  the office of children and family services with regard
to children in their  legal  custody,  and  for  quality  assurance  and
accountability of commissioners of local social services districts, care
and  treatment  of  children  in  the  custody of commissioners of local
social services districts; and (viii) WIC programs for the  purposes  of
verifying  immunization  and  lead  testing  status for those seeking or
receiving services.
(e) Institutes of higher education, medical research centers or  other
institutions  engaged in epidemiological research or other public health
research shall have access to de-identified  registrant  information  in
the   statewide   immunization   information   system  or  the  citywide
immunization  registry  for  research  purposes  if  approved   by   the
commissioner  or the commissioner of the department of health and mental
hygiene of the city of New York, as appropriate.
9. The commissioner may  judge  the  legitimacy  of  any  request  for
immunization  system  information and may refuse access to the statewide
immunization  information  system  based  on  the  authenticity  of  the
request, credibility of the authorized user or other reasons as provided
for  in  regulation. For the city of New York the commissioner of health
and mental hygiene may judge the legitimacy of requests  for  access  to
the citywide immunization registry and refuse access to the immunization
registry  based  on  the authenticity of the request, credibility of the
authorized user or other reasons as provided for in regulation.
10. The person to whom any immunization record relates, or his or  her
parent,  or  guardian, or other person in parental or custodial relation
to such person may request a copy of an  immunization  or  lead  testing
record   from   the  registrant's  healthcare  provider,  the  statewide
immunization information system or the  citywide  immunization  registry
according  to procedures established by the commissioner or, in the case
of  the  citywide  immunization  registry,  by  the  city  of  New  York
commissioner of the department of health and mental hygiene.
11.  The commissioner, or in the city of New York, the commissioner of
the department of health and  mental  hygiene,  may  provide  registrant
specific  immunization  and lead test records to the federal centers for
disease control and prevention or its successor agency, to  other  state
or  city  registries  and  registries  maintained  by  the Indian Health
Service and tribal nations recognized by the state or the United  States
pursuant  to  a  written  agreement  requiring  that  the other registry
conform to national standards for maintaining the integrity of the  data

and  that  the  data  will only be used for purposes consistent with the
provisions of this section and provided that disclosure of  identifiable
registrant  information shall be limited to the minimum amount necessary
to  accomplish  the  purposes  consistent  with  the  provisions of this
section as determined by the commissioner, or in the city of  New  York,
the commissioner of the department of health and mental hygiene.
11-a.  The  commissioner, or in the city of New York, the commissioner
of the department of health and mental hygiene, may only share  registry
information maintained by the department, or in the case of the citywide
immunization registry, the city of New York under the provisions of this
section  with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or
successor agency, for public health purposes  in  summary,  statistical,
aggregate,  or  other  form  such  that  no  individual  person  can  be
identified,  except  that  either   such   commissioner   may   disclose
identifiable  registrant  information to the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, or its successor agency, when  the  commissioner
has  determined  that  the  disclosure  is  in the best interests of the
registrant or will contribute to the protection  of  public  health  and
that  the  objective  of  the  disclosure cannot be served by disclosure
limited to de-identified information, or the  federal  health  officials
have  committed  in  writing  not  to  redisclose to or share registrant
information with any other federal agency, including but not limited  to
the   department   of   homeland   security,   immigration  and  customs
enforcement, customs and border protection, or any successor agency,  or
any  law  enforcement agency; provided that either such commissioner may
forgo the written  commitment  if  requiring  written  commitment  would
result in the actual withholding of federal funds.
12.  Information  that  would  be  provided upon the enrollment in the
statewide immunization information system of a child  being  vaccinated,
from  birth  records  of  all infants born in New York state on or after
January first, two thousand four shall be  entered  into  the  statewide
immunization  information  system, except in the city of New York, where
birth record information shall be entered into the citywide immunization
registry.
13. The commissioner shall  promulgate  regulations  as  necessary  to
effectuate  the  provisions  of  this  section.  Such  regulations shall
include provision  for  orderly  implementation  and  operation  of  the
statewide immunization information system, including the method by which
each category of authorized user may access the system. Access standards
shall  include  at  a  minimum a method for assigning and authenticating
each user identification and password assigned.
14. No authorized  user  shall  be  subjected  to  civil  or  criminal
liability,  or  be  deemed to have engaged in unprofessional conduct for
reporting to, receiving from, or disclosing information relating to  the
statewide  immunization  information  system when made reasonably and in
good faith and in accordance with the provisions of this section or  any
regulation adopted thereto.