E-vaccination data: From autumn you should be able to dispose of your data
The data from meineimpfungen.ch, the Swiss electronic vaccination card, can be saved and users will soon be able to delete it if necessary. Furthermore, there is an alternative to store one's vaccination data digitally.
The platform myvaccinations.ch was taken offline in spring 2021 due to serious security deficiencies; the foundation behind it went bankrupt. The parent community eHealth Aargau (SteHAG) and the Department of Health and Social Affairs of the Canton of Aargau made an attempt last year to save the vaccination data of the approximately 300,000 affected residents with a new project.
Delete vaccination data independently
Now SteHAG has successfully completed the preliminary project for data recovery of the meineimpfungen.ch foundation, as E-Health Suisse, the competence and coordination office of the federal government and cantons, writes. The review in the preliminary project has shown that the data can be made available to users with reasonable effort, as the canton of Aargau wrote in a media release a few days ago.
The project committee, consisting of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the Swiss Conference of Ministers of Public Health (GDK) and the Conference of the Swiss Medical Associations (KSG), gave the go-ahead for the main project after completion of the preliminary project. The goal is to make the data available via a secure platform by fall 2023, he said. The canton of Aargau says that those affected will then probably have three months to delete their vaccination data themselves or to obtain it.
Transfer data to an EPD
Why not integrate vaccination data into an electronic patient record (EPD)? The canton of Aargau is one of the turbos when it comes to EPD. It was the first canton to introduce one two years ago. Vaccination data can be stored in the EPD just like eyeglass prescriptions and other health data. With an EPD, health professionals and patients can access health data from anywhere. However, who is actually allowed to access the data is solely up to the owner of the data, namely the patient.
The data from the failed meineimpfungen.ch project can optionally be transferred to an existing electronic patient dossier. The EPD as a nationwide and secure platform for health information serves as a replacement for an electronic vaccination card, emphasizes E-Health Suisse. The competence center therefore recommends that people who want to make use of the data transfer open an EPD. Interested parties can find out in which region this is possible at patientdossier.ch/epd-providers.
More information about data recovery is also available on myvaccinations.ch published.
