RFK Jr. Stops Biden Policy Requiring Doctors Report Patient Vaccine Status
A Biden policy that forced medical establishments to break doctor-patient confidentiality and report vaccine status to the government has been reversed.
The new policy, announced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will initially cover doctors participating in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, who were previously required to report vaccination status of children for specific vaccines by their second birthday, and other shots by the time they turn 14 years old. Also gone are requirements to report the status of pregnant women.
“Government bureaucracies should never coerce doctors or families into accepting vaccines or penalize physicians for respecting patient choice. That practice ends now,” Kennedy, head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), of which CMS is a part, said in a post on X. “Under the Trump administration, HHS will protect informed consent, respect religious liberty, and uphold medical freedom.”
The reporting was promoted as being totally voluntary when first implemented, but was then mandated by the Biden administration in fiscal year 2024.
Informed consent
It also said that starting in 2026, officials would be exploring the development of new measures that would “capture information about whether parents and families were informed about vaccine choices, vaccine safety and side effects, and alternative vaccine schedules.”
Officials plan to talk with states, providers, and other stakeholders about those measures.
“CMS will also explore how religious exemptions for vaccinations can be accounted for in the data and the subsequent measures,” the letter states.
By Zachary Stieber | From the Epoch Times News Service
