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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are agencies of the U.S. Government conducting medical record review of persons who recently received a vaccine(s) and reported a health problem. CDC and FDA are public health authorities as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information; Final Rule (Privacy Rule) [45 CFR §164.501]. Pursuant to 45 CFR §164.512(b) of the Privacy Rule is applicable to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) as follows:

Covered entities such as your organization may disclose, without individual authorization, protected health information to public health authorities " . . . authorized by law to collect or receive such information for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability, including, but not limited to, the reporting of disease, injury, vital events such as birth or death, and the conduct of public health surveillance, public health investigations, and public health interventions . . . "

The CDC and the FDA conduct surveillance for vaccine associated adverse events through VAERS, a public health activity as described by 45 CFR § 164.512(b), as authorized by 42 USC 300aa-25. The information being requested represents the minimum necessary to carry out the public health purposes of this project pursuant to 45 CFR §164.514(d) of the Privacy Rule.

If you need further information about the HIPAA Privacy Rule, please visit Privacy Rule and Public Health: Guidance from CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information.

Personal information provided to VAERS which identifies a person who received the vaccine(s) will not be made available to the public. You and/or your health care provider may be contacted for follow-up information by VAERS staff after your initial report is received.

Please see The HIPAA Privacy Rule section on this page for specific information about the data collected on the VAERS form, what is done with the data, and how long it is stored.

Unless you voluntarily provide additional information, VAERS collects only the following information as you browse through the VAERS Web site.

• The domain name and browser you use to access the Internet;
• The date and time of your visit;
• The pages you visited;
• The address of the Web site you visited immediately prior to visiting the VAERS site; and
• The type of browser and operating system you used to access our Web site.

VAERS collects this information for statistical purposes and for evaluation to ensure that the VAERS Web site is useful and easy to use.

We collect this information on an aggregate basis only. Our Web site logs do not contain personally identifiable information, and we make no attempt to link them with the individual visitors that actually browse the Web site.

If you send an e-mail message to VAERS or complete a questionnaire, form, or other online survey, VAERS will maintain the information in accordance with applicable federal law.

VAERS does not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any personal information about VAERS Web site visitors unless required for law enforcement or otherwise required by law.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, VAERS employs software programs to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage.

If you have any questions, complaints or comments regarding the VAERS Privacy Policy practices, please contact VAERS.

Information supplied in the on-line submission form is transmitted securely to VAERS using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Ensuring that communications remain secure between users and the Web server is a critical issue. SSL is the protocol developed to transmit private documents via the Internet. It works by using a public key to encrypt data that is transferred over the SSL connection. Internet Explorer supports SSL and many Web sites use the protocol to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers. By convention, Web pages that require an SSL connection start with https: instead of http:. Please review RSA Security Inc.'s SSL Questions and Answers for more information.

The VAERS Web site uses non-persistent, temporary or session cookies to assist in analyzing Web site usage more accurately. Non-persistent cookies are small amounts of information stored by your web browser software on your computer workstation, but are not stored on your computer's hard drive and do not collect personal information. They are stored in memory and erased as soon as you leave the Web site.

Unless you provide additional information voluntarily, VAERS collects only the following information as you browse through the VAERS Web site.

• The date and time of your visit;
• The pages you visited;
• The address of the Web site you visited immediately prior to visiting the VAERS site;
• The type of browser and operating system you use.

VAERS collects this information for statistical purposes and to ensure the VAERS Web site is easy to use. We collect this information on an aggregate basis only. Our Web site logs do not contain personally identifiable information, and we make no attempt to link them with individual visitors.

If you send an e-mail message to VAERS or complete a questionnaire, form, or other online survey, VAERS will maintain the information in accordance with applicable federal law. VAERS does not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any personal information about VAERS Web site visitors unless required for law enforcement or otherwise required by law. For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, VAERS employs software programs to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage.

As a resource for our users, the VAERS Web site maintains a variety of links to other governmental, educational, and not-for-profit Web sites with information on vaccines and vaccine safety. If you access another site through a link we provide, you are subject to the privacy policy of that site. Reference on these Web sites to commercial products, services, manufacturers, or companies does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. government, the Department of Health and Human Services, FDA, or CDC. VAERS is not responsible for the content of any pages referred from its Web site.

We welcome suggestions from our users for new useful links. Please contact VAERS with new links or comments/suggestions on existing links.

CDC, FDA, and other government information included on the VAERS Web site is in the public domain; however, the VAERS site may reference or links to information may be found on the VAERS site may reference or link to information that is owned or created by others and therefore is copyrighted and not in the public domain. Those other parties retain all rights to publish or reproduce those documents or to allow others to do so. Any copyrighted materials included on this Web site remain the property of their respective owners or /creators and may not be reproduced or otherwise used without permission from the copyright holder. It is not the intent of VAERS to violate or infringe upon any copyrights. If you have any questions, please contact VAERS.

VAERS does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in documents available from the VAERS Web site.

CDC and FDA do not provide individual medical treatment advice or diagnosis. If individual medical or health care advice is needed, please consult a qualified health care provider. If emergency or crisis care is needed, call 911 or your local emergency services facility.

VAERS is working to ensure that the information available at this Web site is accessible to all. To learn more about the regulations governing the accessibility of federal electronic information products, please see HHS Implementation of Section 508.

If you have any difficulties or concerns with the Web site's display or functionality, please contact VAERS, and include the name and version of the browser you are using.

For more information about Privacy Policies and Disclaimers, please contact VAERS.