Sponsor
Andrew S. Biggs
Representative · R-AZ
Representative · R-AZ
The bill trades greater public access to HHS COVID-19 vaccine clinical data (with required deidentification) for the immediate removal of COVID-19 vaccines from the official child immunization schedule — increasing transparency but risking lower vaccination coverage, administrative disruption, and privacy concerns.
Parents, families, researchers, and the public gain access to HHS-held clinical data on COVID-19 vaccines' safety and efficacy, increasing transparency and enabling independent review of federal vaccine evidence.
HHS/CDC must deidentify data before public posting, which helps protect individuals' personal health information when datasets are released.
Children, adolescents, and schools will be affected immediately because the bill removes COVID-19 vaccines from the official child/adolescent immunization schedule, which could reduce vaccination uptake, complicate school immunization requirements, and weaken outbreak response.
State and local health agencies, hospitals, and healthcare providers will face increased administrative burden and logistical disruption from an immediate removal of the vaccine from the schedule (affecting recommendations, billing, recordkeeping, and program operations).
Despite deidentification requirements, posting detailed clinical datasets raises a risk of reidentification that could expose participants' private health information and raise privacy concerns for families and agency staff.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prevents HHS/CDC/ACIP from placing any COVID‑19 vaccine on the child/adolescent immunization schedule until HHS posts all clinical safety and efficacy data it holds; removes any such vaccine already on the schedule at enactment.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Andrew S. Biggs · Last progress January 3, 2025
Prohibits the Secretary of HHS, the CDC, and ACIP from placing any COVID‑19 vaccine on the child and adolescent immunization schedule unless HHS first posts on the CDC public website all clinical data in its possession about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness (including adverse events), with identifying personal and certain personnel details removed. Any COVID‑19 vaccine listed on the schedule at the time this law takes effect is treated as removed, and the Secretary must take administrative steps to effect that removal; a vaccine may only be put back on the schedule after the public‑posting requirement and other legal requirements are met.