§31.16. Parental consent; parental responsibility for immunization; exemptions

A.(1) Nothing in this Part shall be construed to restrict the registry from providing tracking and recall information to the parent or guardian that provides the consent for the child to be entered into an immunization registry.

(2) General consent for treatment and release of information to other providers or to the office of public health shall be considered parental consent for sharing historical, current, and future immunization information. In addition, each immunization provider shall comply with at least one of the following requirements:

(a) Place a poster in the patient registration area notifying parents that the site is participating in the state immunization registry and that childhood data is being shared with the registry.

(b) Provide each parent a brochure supplied by the office of public health describing the purposes of the registry and notifying parents that they can prohibit data sharing by notifying the health care provider not to submit their child's immunization information.

(3) In the event of a public health emergency as declared by the state health officer, including a natural disaster, bioterrorist attack, epidemic, or other event affecting the public health, the requirement to obtain consent for placement on a registry shall be waived for mass immunizations performed in response to such declaration.

B. The immunization record of a child shall be purged from the registry at any time that the child's custodial parent or legal guardian requests, in writing, that the immunization record be purged from the registry.

C. Nothing in this Part shall be construed to mitigate the responsibility of a parent or guardian to have a child of that parent or guardian properly immunized.

D. Nothing in this Part shall be construed to require immunization or tracking of any child otherwise exempt from immunization requirements for medical or religious reasons.

Acts 1995, No. 798, §1, eff. June 27, 1995; Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 90, §1.