What exactly does the "Covid Vaccine" file provide, which worries the Web?
What exactly does the "Covid Vaccine" file provide, which worries the Web?
Initiated by the government to monitor the vaccine campaign against coronavirus, the "Covid Vaccine" file raises concerns on social networks. Medical secrecy, personal data.
It will compile the personal data of all persons vaccinated against Covid-19. The "Covid Vaccine" file,under the responsibility of the Ministry of Solidarity and Health and the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam), was created by decree on 25 December. It is intended to enable "the implementation, monitoring and piloting of the vaccine campaigns against Covid-19," which began on Sunday (December 27th) in France.
This large file, given that it should eventually compile the data of "a large part of the French population", as pointed out by the National Commission for Information Technology and Freedoms (Cnil), raises many concerns on social networks. In a viral post on Twitter, one user denounced the "systematic and non-consensual registration" of patients. According to him, the "Covid Vaccine" file would even violate medical secrecy.
FAKE OFF
"Covid Vaccine" has several concrete aims, set out in the decree of 25 December 2020: to enable the identification of those eligible for vaccination, the sending of vaccination vouchers, the recording of information relating to the pre-vaccination consultation and the organisation of vaccination of these people. The file will also be used to supply the site with vaccines and will allow the patient to be contacted again in the event of a "new risk. This is called "pharmacovigilance." "This treatment is not intended to be extended to other vaccinations than the one against coronavirus," stresses Cnil.
Health workers are thus responsible for registering a set of personal data on the vaccinated persons: identification data (name, first names, date and place of birth...), a plan of affiliation with Medicare, the date and place of vaccination, but also the patient's state of health. The database will also be powered by other existing health files.
The Cnil issued an opinion on the draft decree establishing the "Covid Vaccine" file on 10 December. The body, which is responsible for ensuring the protection of personal data contained in computer files and processings, found that the purposes of the file "appear determined, explained and legitimate."
Some data will be subject to pseudonymization
Contacted by 20 Minutes,the Directorate General of Health (DGS) assures him: "Data processed under the "Covid Vaccine" information system is protected by medical secrecy." For example, processing your personal data does not mean that all health professionals will have access to it. "Only the data needed to carry out the missions at any given time will be accessible to those responsible for carrying out a particular task," Adèle Lutun, a lawyer in the health department at Cnil.
"For example, if you go to a nurse after receiving your vaccination voucher, the nurse will not know what, in your state of health, justifies you getting vaccinated first," the lawyer says. For the exercise of their missions, some professionals will receive data that has been the subject of so-called "pseudonymization" measures, allowing the confidentiality of the identity of individuals. This will be particularly the case for public health france or LRAs.
Will your data be collected without your consent?
Through the connection with other health files, some data will actually be collected in the file from Medicare without the consent of the people. It is this information that will enable the creation and sending of your vaccination voucher when you are among the eligible people. "In practical terms, a person who has received a voucher to be vaccinated and who does not wish to be vaccinated or be included in the information system can ask to be deleted," the DGS said.
"In exceptional circumstances, an exceptional measure, you will not be able to request the erasure of your post-vaccination data," Alain Bensoussan, a lawyer specializing in the right to data protection, told 20 Minutes. This data, which monitors the vaccination campaign and allows for a very high reactivity in the event of the appearance of potentially problematic side effects, are framed by a public interest reason: the protection of the population," he adds. Nevertheless, the DGS stresses that you may object to "the transmission of [your] data for research purposes to the health data platform "Health Data Hub" and the National Health Insurance Fund."
A balance between necessity and proportionality
For Alain Bensoussan, this decree is a balance between "protecting the person and defending his privacy". While he is not concerned about the "Covid Vaccine" file, two points of attention remain, the lawyer points out. First, the need to carefully monitor subcontracting companies that may be required to work with the Ministry of Health and Cnam and which have not yet been detailed by the ministry, despite the recommendation of the Cnil.
Finally, he points out the importance of strengthening the criminal response to illicit data collection: "Today, collecting personal data by fraudulent, unfair or illegal means is punishable by five years' imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros. Given the importance of the file and the sensitivity of its data, it would be smart to double that penalty."
Source:- Flash News and News Agencies